Plants · Aromatic Plants
Vetiver, Chrysopogon zizanioides: scientific name, root oil
Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty
- Family
- Poaceae
- ISO standard
- ISO 4716:2013
Species
| Binomial | Vetiveria zizanioides |
|---|---|
| Accepted name | Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty |
| WCVP status | synonym |
| Family | Poaceae |
| IPNI identifier | urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:396213-1 |
| ISO standard | ISO 4716:2013 |
According to WCVP (Kew), Vetiveria zizanioides is a synonym of Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, the accepted name.
Source: Govaerts R. (ed.), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, accessed on 21/09/2026.
Source: ISO 4716:2013.
Source: Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, taxon page « Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty », archived copy of 16/01/2026 (Internet Archive), accessed on 30/10/2026.
Key facts
- In WCVP, Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty is the accepted name, and Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash a homotypic synonym.
- Oliveira et al. (2022) hydrodistilled, for 4 h, roots collected in Brazil, with a yield written “0.52 ± 0.04% yield (w/w)”.
- In that root oil, oxygenated sesquiterpenes make up 70.4 ± 0.1 %, and khusimol is given at 30.0 ± 0.3 %RA.
- Efe et al. (2021) hydrodistilled, for 24 h, roots supplied from a field in Giresun (Turkey), and report thirty components.
- The ISO catalogue lists ISO 4716:2013, “Essential oil of vetiver”, and two withdrawn editions.
The vetiver oil described on this page is the essential oil hydrodistilled from the roots of Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty. The two studies differ in origin of the roots (Brazil, Turkey), in distillation time (4 h, 24 h) and in analytical method. The ISO 4716:2013 entry names the same species, with Vetiveria zizanioides as a synonym.
How is the plant named?
According to the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, Kew), in the extract read on 28/10/2026, Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty has rank “Species” and status “Accepted”, in the family Poaceae (identifier 405169). The extract gives Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash rank “Species” and status “Synonym” (its own identifier: 449632). Its accepted name carries identifier 405169, and it is marked as a homotypic synonym (“T”).
According to the Plants of the World Online (POWO, Kew) entry for the taxon “Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty”, the native range of the species is “NE. India to Indo-China”. The same entry describes Chrysopogon zizanioides as “a perennial” that grows “primarily in the wet tropical biome”.
What does vetiver root oil contain?
Which compound classes were found in the Brazilian root oil?
Oliveira et al. (2022) identified a total of 22 compounds by GC-FID and GC–MS in this root oil. The authors write that oxygenated sesquiterpenes make up most of it (70.4 ± 0.1 %). They did not detect monoterpenes or phenylpropanoids in this oil.
The two class rows of their Table 1 read as follows; their retention-index cells are empty.
| Row of Table 1 | %RA |
|---|---|
| “Oxygenated sesquiterpenes” | 70.4 ± 0.1 |
| “Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons” | 24.6 ± 0.5 |
Which compounds does the table list?
The rows below are those of Table 1 of Oliveira et al. (2022), in its order, with the compound names and column headings as the table writes them.
| Compound | RI (experimental) | %RA |
|---|---|---|
| β-cubebene | 1392 | 1.8 ± 0.2 |
| Isolongifolene | 1406 | 2.4 ± 0.2 |
| β-Gurjunene | 1434 | 1.2 ± 0.1 |
| α-Patchoulene | 1452 | 3.0 ± 0.2 |
| β-Cadinene | 1470 | 3.6 ± 0.1 |
| α-Muurolene | 1475 | 6.0 ± 0.1 |
| α-Amorphene | 1486 | 1.2 ± 0.2 |
| Valencene | 1493 | 0.6 ± 0.2 |
| α-Bulnesene | 1501 | 4.4 ± 0.2 |
| α-Elemol | 1546 | 0.6 ± 0.2 |
| β-Vatirenene | 1548 | 0.6 ± 0.1 |
| β-Eudesmol | 1552 | 10.8 ± 0.3 |
| Spathulenol | 1576 | 4.0 ± 0.2 |
| Guaiol | 1598 | 3.2 ± 0.1 |
| Humulane-1,6-dien-3-ol | 1618 | 3.0 ± 0.3 |
| Cubenol | 1640 | 3.4 ± 0.1 |
| Agarospirol | 1644 | 3.0 ± 0.3 |
| Cedren-13-ol | 1657 | 3.6 ± 0.1 |
| Patchouli alcohol | 1663 | 5.6 ± 0.2 |
| Khusimol | 1747 | 30.0 ± 0.3 |
| Nootkatone | 1802 | 2.8 ± 0.1 |
How was the composition measured?
Each row gives the chromatography conditions as each study reports them; the studies are not averaged.
| Study and technique | Column | Oven | Carrier gas and injection | Other conditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliveira et al. (2022), GC-FID | — | 60 to 240 °C at 3 °C/min, then 240 °C for 5 min | H2 at 1.0 mL/min; 0.1 µL injected (split ratio 1:10) | injector 240 °C, detector 280 °C |
| Oliveira et al. (2022), identification | Rtx-5MS capillary (30 m × 0.25 mm; 0.250 µm) | — | — | retention indices relative to n-alkanes (C8–C20); Wiley 7, NIST 08 and FFNSC 1.2 libraries |
| Efe et al. (2021), GC-MS | 5% diphenyl 95% dimethyl polysiloxane (30.0 m, 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 μm df) | 40 °C; GC program time 45 min | helium at 1.44 mL/min, split ratio 1:25; injection at 250 °C | “50/30 um” SPME fiber assembly (divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane) |
| Efe et al. (2021), mass spectrometry | — | — | — | ion source 210 °C, interface 250 °C; ionisation at 70 eV; mass range 40–400 amu; pressure 79.7 kPa; sampling time 1 min |
Oliveira et al. (2022) analysed the root oil (CZ-EO), dissolved in ethyl ether, by GC-FID and by GC–MS. They estimated the relative concentrations from the relative peak areas (%) of the GC-FID chromatograms, as the mean of three analyses with their standard deviations. Their GC-MS conditions and identification rest on a methodology they had “previously reported” (their reference [17]). They also compared fragmentation patterns with literature data (reference [21]).
Efe et al. (2021) determined the compounds by comparing their relative retention times and mass spectra with the standards of the Wiley and NIST libraries. They report that the analysis identified a total of thirty components.
How is the root oil obtained, and with what yield?
Where were the roots collected?
Oliveira et al. (2022) collected their roots of Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty (Poaceae) in June 2021 in Machado, State of Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil (21°41′56″ S and 45°52′59″ W). The botanist Walnir G. F. Júnior identified the plant material. A voucher specimen (GERAES-CZ01) was deposited at the Herbário de Machado, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Sul de Minas Gerais (Brazil), in its Departamento de Biologia.
Efe et al. (2021) obtained their plant material, Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty (syn. Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash), from a field in Giresun (Turkey), in the Black Sea Region (40.979955, 38.783850), in September 2018. Mustafa Karaköse identified and authenticated the plant material (vetiver). A voucher specimen (catalogue number KATO: 16800) was deposited at the herbarium of the Faculty of Forestry of Karadeniz Technical University (KATO), Trabzon (Turkey).
How were the roots distilled, and with what yield?
Oliveira et al. (2022) divided 1500 g of roots into three samples of 500 g each, placed in three 500 mL round-bottom flasks. Their distillation section writes the species “C. zizanoioides”, where their plant-material section writes “Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty”. After 500 mL of distilled water was added, the flask was coupled to an apparatus the authors write “Cleavenger-type”, and the hydrodistillation lasted 4 h.
In that study, the root essential oil (CZ-EO) was obtained after 4 h as a light-yellow oil, with a yield written “0.52 ± 0.04% yield (w/w)”. The oil was then dried over MgSO4 and stored at −4 °C until the GC analyses.
Efe et al. (2021) washed three-year-old vetiver roots many times and dried them in the shade. They subjected a total of 150 g of the ground roots to hydrodistillation for 24 h in a Clevenger apparatus. The extracted oil was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, then filtered.
Which ISO standards name vetiver oil?
The ISO catalogue, ICS class 71.100.60 (web archive copy of 19/03/2026), lists the following entries.
| Entry | Title | Mention | Stage | Committee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 4716:1987 | “Oil of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides (Linnaeus) Nash)” | “[Withdrawn]” | 95.99 | ISO/TC 54 |
| ISO 4716:2002 | “Oil of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash)” | “[Withdrawn]” | 95.99 | ISO/TC 54 |
| ISO 4716:2013 | “Essential oil of vetiver [Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, syn. Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash]” | — | 90.93 | ISO/TC 54 |
In WCVP, Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash, the name these titles carry, is a homotypic synonym whose accepted name carries identifier 405169.
See also: Cymbopogon martini (palmarosa), Angelica archangelica root oil, hydrodistillation, extraction yield calculator.
References
- Govaerts R. (ed.), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — https://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/wcvp.zip
- Oliveira T.A.S., Vieira T.M., Esperandim V.R., Martins C.H.G., Magalhães L.G., Miranda M.L.D., Crotti A.E.M., « Antibacterial, Antiparasitic, and Cytotoxic Activities of Chemical Characterized Essential Oil of Chrysopogon zizanioides Roots », Pharmaceuticals 2022;15(8):967, doi:10.3390/ph15080967 — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pmc&id=9415812
- Efe D., Karaköse M., Karaçelik A.A., Ertan B., Şeker M.E., « GC-MS analyses and bioactivities of essential oil obtained from the roots of Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty cultivated in Giresun, Turkey », Turkish Journal of Chemistry 2021;45(5):1543-1550, doi:10.3906/kim-2009-64 — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pmc&id=13061289
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO), online catalogue, ICS 71.100.60 « Essential oils », archived copy of 19/03/2026 (Internet Archive) — https://web.archive.org/web/20260319152944id_/https://www.iso.org/ics/71.100.60/x/
- Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, taxon page « Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty », archived copy of 16/01/2026 (Internet Archive) — https://web.archive.org/web/20260116072105id_/https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:396213-1