Ravensara aromatica (SONNERAT) which had the scientific synonym of Ravensara anisata (DANGUY) it is the same tree which is endemic to Madagascar. ((The Malagasy names are: Havozo, Hazomanitra, Tavolomanitra, Ravintsara and the latest being Cinnamomum camphora, which means to Malagasians "Good leaves") thus the confusion). The name Havozo has been used for the essential oil of the bark of the tree Ravensara, which is high in Methyl Charvicol 90% (very different from the oil from the leaves, which is relatively distributed between sabinene, limonene, methyl charvicol & methyl eugenol). The latin name Ravensara anista should be kept for Ravensara bark essential oil. I will however recommend that this oil should not be used until management of the species has been demonstrated. The production of the oil from the bark is highly destructive to the species. Only the leaves should be used without the cutting down of the tree.

The essential oil from the leaves of the Ravensara aromatica had many names, from the wrongly identified Cinnamomum camphora to Havozo. Much of the confusion was from the supplier/acedemic world getting samples miss identified, then testing them and using the Gc-Ms informtion. What little of the information went into scientific journals which is read by suppliers. Unless one can follow Ravensara or Ravintsara back to the verified botanical species, distill the specific species, and test it there can be mix up: especially when the pickers and distillers on the ground are not thoroughly train, even more so when the myth gets a stamp from science saying Ravensara is 11% sabinene and 57% cineole. All these names cannot be patented. The differences in the names brought a huge confusion for the customer , stopping the extension of the sale of this essential oil, which is very interesting.

Our grower, distiller has set up a community based sustainable production system for the oil of the Ravensara aromatica in order to give incentive to the local population to conserve this species, which is under high anthropocentric pressure. The British government has supported this program. A very important amount of money has been invested to define the sustainable way to use these trees for conservation purposes. Olivier,"our forester team found out that people were just cutting the tree to collect the leaves.".The name "Aromatic Ravensare has been patented " which can only be used for essential oil produced the right way (not threatening the plant). Ravensara can still be used, but we cannot ensure the way the oils are produced.

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