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5. A.Y. Leung & S. Foster Encyclopaedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food,. Drugs, Cosmetics 2nd Edn. Pub 1996 John Wiley p 411 

“Eugenol, cinnamaldehyde and benzalde isolated from patchouly (Pogosetmon. heyneanus) reportedly have insecticidal activity against insects in stored grain – this rather strange assertion is credited with the reference R.S. Deshpande et al. Bull Grain Technol., 12, 232 (1974) through Chem Abstr 84, 55270c (1976). Earlier in the same article Patchouly  P. cablin (Blanco) Benth. is described as syn. P. heyneanus Benth. 

Leading on from above I believe that P. heyneanus is a distinct plant from from P. cablin, the former being native to India and Malayia and also found in the Seychelles. It produces a stronger and unpleasant smelling oil, but I don’t believe that eugenol, cinnamaldehyde and benzaldehyde are present. Interestingly the same three compounds turn up in another paper “Seychelles Patchouli” by J.F. Lionett, the copy of the paper I saw reprinted from World Crops October 1962 by Lomond Tech. Press Ltd, Hammersmith, who describes Patchouli oil (P. cablin) as consisting mainly of sesquiterpenes and Patchouli alcohol, and other substances such as benzaldehyde, eugenol & cinnamic aldehyde!  Perhaps further searching through the early analytical literature for Patchouli oil will reveal the source of this often-repeated allegation!  

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