216. Oleum Rosae.—Oil of Rose. Attar of Roses.

A volatile oil distilled from the fresh flowers of Ro'sa damasce'na Miller.

SOURCE.—District of Kisanlik, in southern slope of the Balkans.

DESCRIPTION.—A pale yellow liquid having a specific gravity of 0.87, an agreeable rose odor, and sweetish taste. It solidifies between 16° and 21°C. into a transparent solid, containing numerous slender, iridescent crystals of the stearopten, which float on the surface when the solid is melted, as by the heat of the hand.

CONSTITUENTS.—It consists of two parts, one of which is fragrant and the other comparatively inodorous. The fragrant principles are mainly geraniol and citronellol; the other a white crystalline stearopten, C₁₆H₃₄, melting at 36.5° to 38°C. Used as a perfume in ointments, pomades, etc.

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.