ABSTRACT
Sweet marjoram oil is the essential oil obtained from the flowering tops of the sweet marjoram, Origanum majorana L. Origanum majorana L., popularly known as sweet marjoram, is an herb or undershrub, which can grow to 40-60 centimeter (cm). The plant is native to Cyprus and Turkey and sometimes naturalized, especially in the Mediterranean region. The sweet marjoram is one of the most important culinary herbs of the western world, widely cultivated in Europe, Africa, southern Asia and the Americas. Annual, biannual and herbaceous perennial forms occur in cultivation. The leaves and flowering herbs are employed for flavoring meat, sausages, soups, salads, vegetable dishes and oils. Sweet marjoram is also used in folk medicine and considered to have antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, stimulant, stomachic, aphrodisiac, sudorific and mildly tonic properties. Sweet marjoram oil is a yellowish to yellow-green, clear mobile liquid which has an aromatic, herbaceous and spicy odor.
