What is the deal with Amyris Essential Oil?
Amyris Essential Oil. Amyris balsamifera L.
The Amyris plant is also known or referred to as Balsam Torchwood or West Indian Sandalwood. Although most literature lists Amyris as a flowering plant, which is slightly misleading, as it is really a very woody, dense bush, and yes, itis a flowering plant, specifically a bush. The wood is a very flammable wood because of its high levels of resin. The Amyris essential oil is a distilled resin. Technically the resin is classified in the aromatherapy world as an "Oleoresin" which is just a resin and a resin is a viscous substance or even a solid substance in some circumstances. Resins are usually converted into polymers for industrial applications and left in a resin form that is distilled or cold-pressed for aromatherapy or medical use. For the most part,
Amyris oleoresins are obtained from the area of the Caribbean Islands or on some outlying mainland countries. Since we are discussing the aromatherapy applications of Amyris, we will not discuss the industrial applications. One of the names of the oil is West Indian Sandalwood. This can be misleading as it would lead a person to think that it would just be a form of Sandalwood oil from a different part of the world. While it does have some very close relationships to Sandalwood applications,, the color and viscosity, and aroma, it is not a Sandalwood oil and should not be thought of as a Sandalwood oil. The individual components are not the same as Sandalwood, but the aroma very closely resembles Sandalwood and in many respects, it performs very closely to Sandalwood. Although the aroma is similar one would find the Amyris would be not quite as smooth and relaxing as Sandalwood, with a slightly less refined aroma. Because of the far-reaching effects of Sandalwood in the effects of calming and relaxing, a less expensive alternative can be found with Amyris. One can read the literature on Sandalwood and as the literature would claim as to the emotional effects and uses, one can simply substitute Sandalwood with Amyris and not notice no observable differences other than the before mentioned slightly less refined aroma. So because of the expensive costs and most of the time a complete lack of availability of Sandalwood, people turn to Amyris.
Amyris is a slightly less priced oil than the average, moderately priced oil. For now, Amyris is not a difficult oil to obtain, the current discussions are looking in the direction of it becoming less available and likely to rise considerably in price. The reason is that because of the massive move towards the use of essential oils, worldwide, and the inability of nature to keep up with demand. Amyris is a perennial plant and as such, they can't be planted and harvested within an annual's seasonal growth schedule. Basically, the long and short of it is that it is quickly moving toward extinction. The Aromatherapy world is working with new types of blends to replicate this oil as well as Sandalwood oil. That will take time as these are very complex oils and making a new blend for these is an exhausting endeavor.
When it comes to the component breakdown of Amyris oil we see this oil containing a mixture of Elemic acids which are believed to have anti-cancerous properties, Sesquiterpenes, and Triterpenes, which are generally referred to as Hydrocarbons. There are various amounts of each of the classes of Hydrocarbons. Normally the two main components are Valerianoil, which is a component used to treat insomnia and anxiety disorders. The second main component is x-Eudesmol. With this component we see it producing effects and affecting change that s similar to CBD oil. The other components are of small numeric values but the mixture of those, which accounts for around 60% of the components, are very effective in their scope.
Overall this oil is hard to beat when it comes to soothing the harmful effects of the volatile emotional struggles that often arise from the daily stress of a fast-paced life and overstimulation. It does have a number of anti-cancerous properties. However, to use the oil effective for these types of purposes one would do better with it if under a knowledgeable natural product practitioner so that proper evaluations could be conducted. Amyris essential oil is like most resins, they are somewhat limited in their scope of therapies but really effective in those areas where they serve.
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