Cuphea oil is oil

Vegetable fats and oils

Vegetable fats and oils are lipid materials derived from plants. Physically, oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid. Chemically, both fats and oils are composed of triglycerides, as contrasted with waxes which lack glycerin in their structure...

 pressed from the seeds of several species of the genus Cuphea

Cuphea

Cuphea is a genus containing about 260 species of annual and perennial flowering plants native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species range from low-growing herbs to semi-woody shrubs up to 2 m tall. Commonly they are known as cupheas, or, in the case of some species,...

. Interest in cuphea oils is relatively recent, as a source of medium-chain triglyceride

Triglyceride

A triglyceride is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids. There are many triglycerides, depending on the oil source, some are highly unsaturated, some less so....

s like those found in coconut oil

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconuts harvested from the coconut palm . Throughout the tropical world, it has provided the primary source of fat in the diets of millions of people for generations. It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry...

 and palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...

. Cuphea oil is of interest because it grows in climates where palms - the source of both of these oils - do not grow.

The fatty acid content of cuphea oils are as follows. The composition of coconut oil

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconuts harvested from the coconut palm . Throughout the tropical world, it has provided the primary source of fat in the diets of millions of people for generations. It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry...

 is included for comparison:
! Species !! Caprylic

Caprylic acid

Caprylic acid is the common name for the eight-carbon saturated fatty acid known by the systematic name octanoic acid. It is found naturally in the milk of various mammals, and it is a minor constituent of coconut oil and palm kernel oil...

 !! Capric !! Lauric

Lauric acid

Lauric acid , the saturated fatty acid with a 12-carbon atom chain, is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap.-Occurrence:...

 !! Myristic

Myristic acid

Myristic acid, also called tetradecanoic acid, is a common saturated fatty acid with the molecular formula CH312COOH. A myristate is a salt or ester of myristic acid....

 !! Other
|-
| C. painteri >

73.0%

20.4%

0.2%

0.3%

6.1% |- | C. hookeriana

65.1%

23.7%

0.1%

0.2%

10.9% |- | C. koehneana

0.2%

95.3%

1.0%

0.3%

3.2% |- | C. lanceolata

87.5%

2.1%

1.4%

9.0% |- | C. viscosissima

9.1%

75.5%

3.0%

1.3%

11.1% |- | C. carthagenensis

5.3%

81.4%

4.7%

8.6% |- | C. laminuligera

17.1%

62.6%

9.5%

10.8% |- | C. wrightii

29.4%

53.9%

5.1%

11.6% |- | C. lutea

0.4%

29.4%

37.7%

11.1%

21.4% |- | C. epilobiifolia

0.3%

19.6%

67.9%

12.2% |- | C. stigulosa

0.9%

18.3%

13.8%

45.2%

21.8% |- | Coconut

8.0%

7.0%

48.0%

18.0%

These oils are also valuable as sources of single fatty acid

Fatty acid

In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have a chain of an even number of carbon atoms, from 4 to 28. Fatty acids are usually derived from...

s. C. painteri, for example, is rich in caprylic acid

Caprylic acid

Caprylic acid is the common name for the eight-carbon saturated fatty acid known by the systematic name octanoic acid. It is found naturally in the milk of various mammals, and it is a minor constituent of coconut oil and palm kernel oil...

 (73%), where C. carthagenensis oil consists of 81% lauric acid

Lauric acid

Lauric acid , the saturated fatty acid with a 12-carbon atom chain, is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap.-Occurrence:...

. C. koehneana oil may be the richest natural source of a single fatty acid, with 95% of its content consisting of capric acid.