Meadowfoam Seed Oil
Also: Limnanthes alba seed oil, Meadowfoam oil, White meadowfoam seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | not published |
| Iodine value | 94 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | — |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Meadowfoam Seed Oil
The soap qualities are derived from the fatty-acid profile, which is below. They are shown here only for records the calculator can use.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lauric acid | C12:0 · saturated | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 1–2 (typ. 1) | 1.0 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 0.3–0.5 (typ. 0.3) | 0.3 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 61–66.6 (typ. 61) | 61.0 |
| Erucic acid | C22:1 | 10–16 (typ. 15) | 15.0 |
Where these numbers come from
GLC area-% fatty-acid composition, oil content 27.0 wt-%, refractive index nD40 1.47, iodine value 94.0.
Seed-oil fatty-acid values used for the min/max spreads of 18:1, 18:2, 20:1, 22:1 and for the 22:2 range quoted in notes.
Meadowfoam oil is over 95 % C20-C22 fatty acids with unusual delta-5 unsaturation. Mapping caveats: the 'gadoleic' key holds total C20:1, which in meadowfoam is almost entirely cis-5-eicosenoic acid (not the cis-11 gadoleic isomer); the 'erucic' key holds total C22:1, which is mostly cis-13-docosenoic (erucic) acid with a few percent cis-5-docosenoic acid; the third major acid, cis-5,cis-13-docosadienoic acid (C22:2, 15.7-20.0 % across the datasets below), has no key in this schema and must be added back when reconstructing a full profile (a profile built from the keys alone sums to only about 80 %). All fatty-acid data are from PlantFAdb (fatplants.net; Ohlrogge J. et al. 2018, PlantFAdb, The Plant Journal 96:1299-1308), which tabulates values from the underlying publications. PRIMARY: PlantFAdb plant 16409 (Limnanthes alba, oil content 27.0 wt-%), datasets #14477 and #14478 from 'Search for new industrial oils. VIII. The genus Limnanthes' (1964; SOFA TAB_013689 / TAB_013700), GLC area-%: 12:0 0.2, 14:0 0.1, 16:0 0.2, 16:1 0.2, 18:0 0.1, 18:1 1.0, 18:2 0.3, 18:3 0.3, 20:0 0.7, 20:1 (cis-5) 61.0, 22:1 15.0, 22:2 (cis-5,13) 20.0, 22:3 0.1; the dataset also records refractive index nD40 1.47 and IODINE VALUE 94.0, which is the only iodine value in this record. The 'typical' values are that 1964 dataset. ADDITIONAL: PlantFAdb plant 13020 datasets, seed oil: #11221 (1987, 'Meadowfoam: new source of long-chain fatty acids') 18:1 2.0, 18:2 0.5, 20:1 cis-5 62.5, 22:1 cis-5 2.5, 22:1 cis-13 12.0, 22:2 18.0; #17930/#17931 (1990, 'The structure of the triacylglycerols of meadowfoam oil') 20:1 cis-5 66.6, 22:1 cis-13 16.0; #10282 (2000, urea-based fractionation) 20:1 62.8, 22:1 cis-13 12.3, 22:2 15.7; #12639 (1990, 'Vulcanized meadowfoam oil') 20:1 64.0, 22:1 cis-13 10.0, 22:2 19.0. These supply the min/max spreads (20:1 61.0-66.6, 22:1 10.0-16.0, 18:1 1.0-2.0, 18:2 0.3-0.5). SAPONIFICATION VALUE IS NULL: no allowed document printing a measured SAP could be opened in this session (the Elementis 'Fancor Meadowfoam Seed Oil' TDS URL redirected to a product-finder page, the Natural Plant Products site reset the connection, the Journal of Spectroscopy 2020 paper returned HTTP 403 at Wiley/Hindawi, and the Frontiers 2026 cold-pressed-oil review has no meadowfoam row). Because the acids are C20-C22, the SAP is necessarily well below that of C18 oils, but no figure is asserted here. Unsaponifiable matter and melting point were likewise not found in an allowed source (liquid oil). INCI not verified on CosIng in this session, left null.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.