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Content, fatty acid composition, and glyceride profile of oil from seeds of seven basil (Ocimum sp.) chemotypes were determined. The species studied included O. basilicum, O. canum, O. gratissimum, and O. sanctum. The oil content ranged from 18 to 26%, with triglycerides comprising between 94 and 98% of extracted neutral lipids. The major acylated fatty acids were linolenic (43.8-64.8%), linoleic (I 7.8-31.3%), oleic (8.5-I 3.3%), and palmitic acid (6.

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Low and erratic seed germination presents a major production problem in the medicinal plants that collectively are called echinacea or purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia and E. pallida). In this study, nine seed lots of each E. pallida and E. angustifolia from a wide variety of commercial sources and germplasm collections were collected and treated with a solution of 1.0 mm [144.5 mg·L-1 (ppm)] ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphoric acid) to determine whether ethephon would sufficiently improve seed germination to be used by industry to improve the quality of echinacea seed. Applicationof ethephon increased seed germination in both E. pallida and E. angustifolia seed lots regardless of seed sources. The increase in germination by ethephon in eight seed lots of E. pallida and four seed lots in E. angustifolia were statistically significant compared to the nontreated control seeds. The increases in germination were also significant across seed lots for both species. Average germination increases across all seed lots were 1271 and 29% for E. pallida and E. angustifolia, respectively. Average germination of ethephon treated-untreated control seed lots was 76% to 27% and 79% to 62% for E. pallida and E. angustifolia, respectively.

Essential oil content and composition of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) was compared under greenhouse and field conditions using 9 cloned methy1 cinnarnate basil lines. Essential oil content, cis-methyl cinnarnate, linalool and 1,8-cineole were significantly higher in field grown plants while trans-methyl cinnamate was significantly higher in greenhouse grown plants. Correlations between the greenhouse and field grown plants for these essential oil constituents were significant, indicating that the performance of the lines in both environments was consistent, although the actual means varied. The significant differences in essential oil content and composition and consistent response of basil genotypes grown under greenhouse and field conditions demonstrates that the expression of