oil content and physicochemical characteristics of oils

4.2. Physical and chemical characteristic of oils
4.2.1. Specific gravity
The Specific Gravity (SG) in oil of analyzed species ranged from 0.8050 to 0.9854 (Table 8).
Tephrosia vogelii had the highest specific gravity and Treculia africana the lowest. Six of species
studied had specific gravity greater than 0.9000. The mean values of SG of different plant species
analyzed were significantly different (p< 0.001).
Table 8: SG at 40 and 30 O C of oils from plants obtained from Kahuzi-Biega National Park and
the surrounding areas in D.R. Congo
Plant scientific name SG (40 O C) SG (30 O C)
Treculia africana 0.8050±0.0033 0.8110
Podocarpus usambarensis 0.8324±0.0009 0.8384
Pentaclethra macrophylla 0.8615±0.0006 0.8675
Myrianthus arboreus 0.8781±0.0019 0.8841
Myrianthus holstii 0.8793±0.0007 0.8853
Maesopsis eminii 0.9059±0.0008 0.9119
Cardiospermum halicacabum 0.9239±0.0003 0.9299
Carapa grandiflora 0.9311±0.0003 0.9371
Millettia dura 0.9397±0.0009 0.9457
Carapa procera
0.9403±0.0006 0.9463
Tephrosia vogelii 0.9854±0.0013 0.9914
LSD (5%) 0.002242 0.002256
4.2.2. Melting point
The result for the melting point (mp) of the oils analysed are presented Table 9. The mp ranged from
-12 to 32 O C. The oil of most plants analyzed is liquid at room temperature. The oils of Myrianthus
were liquids even below 0 O C. one the other hand, Carapa procera and Cardiospermum halicacabum
oils were solid at room temperature, while Pentaclethra macrophylla and Carapa grandiflora oils
were semi-solid at room temperature.
48