Common name: Davana

Davana is an aromatic herb thought to originate in India though its natural range is largely unknown. Its cultivation, however, has been limited to areas with cool, dry, frost-free conditions during the annual growing season, the main growing areas being Pune and Mysore districts in western India.

It is a bushy annual, about 60 cm (2 ft) tall with a semi-woody base. On top grows strongly aromatic, herbaceous foliage made up of soft stems and leaves, all of which have a fine coating of velvety, silver-grey hairs. The leaves are small, blue-green and feathery, being deeply divided and lobed.

The flowers are small, pale yellow and in roundish clusters that bloom about four months after the seed is sown.

Use

The herbaceous parts, including the stems, leaves, and flowers, yield a dark green or brownish-green essential oil on steam distillation, commonly known as 'Davana oil'. It is a fluid oil with a long-lasting, penetrating herbaceous aroma and sweet balsamic undertones.

Davana oil is used mainly to scent soaps, lotions, and fragrances in high-grade colognes and perfumes, including 'Knowing' by Estée Lauder.

It is also used as a flavouring component in baked goods, candy, tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, including liqueurs.

The whole plant is harvested by cutting it off above the base, after which it is shade dried for up to a week and then steam distilled to extract the oil. On average, around 12,000 kilograms of fresh herbage is harvested per hectare, per season, in commercial operations. With an oil content of approximately 0.2%, it yields 24 kilograms of oil, the equivalent of 21 pounds of oil per acre.

Climate

Grows naturally and develops a high oil content in sub-humid to moderately humid subtropical and tropical mid-elevation climates, generally areas with annual lows of 16 to 20°C, annual highs of 28 to 35°C and annual rainfall of 700 to 1300 mm, extending to drier areas with irrigation.

Growing

New plants are usually started from seed sown in nursery beds, where the delicate seedlings are nurtured until they are ready for transplanting to the field. When about two months old, they are set out in the field in rows and tended for another two months until about half of the plants have started to flower, which signals the time to harvest.

The timing of sowing and transplanting is critical to seedling survival due to the sensitivity of the plant to fungal disease under humid or high rainfall conditions. Sowing and transplanting is therefore timed in commercial operations to coincide with the start of the dry season. This practice is followed so that the transplanted seedlings are not subjected to heavy rainfall, which can wipe out an entire crop.

It performs best on well-drained, manure-enriched loam or sand soils of a slightly acid to neutral nature, generally with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 and on sites with full sun exposure.

Problem features

There is no known weed risk or other problem features associated with growing this plant.

Books

• Arctander, S. 1960, Perfume and flavor materials of natural origin, Elizabeth, New Jersey

• Attokaran, M. 2011, Natural food flavors and colorants, Institute of Food Technologists, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Oxfordshire

• Axtell, B. L & Fairman, R. M 1992, Minor oil crops, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome

• Chaplin, L. T. & Brandies M. M. 1998, The Florida Gardener's Book of Lists, Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas

• Debboun, M. & Frances, S. P. & Strickman, D. 2006, Insect repellents : principles, methods, and uses, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida

• Farooqi, A. A. & Sreeramu, B. S. 2004, Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops, Hyderabad University Press, Hyderabad

• Groom, N. 1997, The new perfume handbook, 2nd ed., Blackie Academic & Professional, London

• Guenther, E. & Althausen, D. 1948 to 1952, The essential oils (6 volumes), Van Nostrand Publishing, New York

• National Institute of Industrial Research (India) 2005, Cultivation of tropical, subtropical vegetables, spices, medicinal, and aromatic plants, Delhi, India

• Seidemann, J. 2005, World spice plants: economic usage botany taxonomy, Springer-Verlag, Berlin