It takes a lot of bulk plant material to produce essential oils. Almost by definition, essential oils are very concentrated and the price of oils generally reflects their concentration and difficulty of extraction. The extraction process can often only be performed profitably at certain times of the year, and often only at particular times of the day. Many flowers have a heavier and more concentrated aroma at dusk.
Examples are jasmine, rose
Typical concentrations : 0.01%
100 kg of rose petals produces 1 cc of essential oil.
It has been calculated that it takes 8 million jasmine flowers to produce 1 kg of oil !
Examples are eucalyptus, lavender
Typical concentrations : 1% to 10%
100 kg of eucalyptus leaves produces 10 litres of essential oil. Lavender oil is 1% to 3%. Tea tree oil is 1%.
