Abstract: Petroleum ether extraction was used to determine the oil contents and fatty acid composition of four samples (consisting of 3 cultivars: Camellia oleifera Abel from Baise, Camellia semiserrata Chi from Wuzhou and two samples of Camellia oleifera Ruanzhi from Hechi and Wuzhou, respectively) of Camellia oleifera seeds from the primary production areas of Hechi, Baise and Wuzhou in Guangxi. The determination of fatty acid composition was achieved using GC-MS. The results showed that kernel percentages and oil contents (expressed on the basis of seed dry weight) of four samples of Camellia oleifera seeds ranged from 53.29% to 68.91% and from 47.05% to 59.51%, respectively. Totally 14 fatty acids were identified in them by GC-MS, including monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) saturated and fatty acids (SFAs) accounting for 72.91% to 80.11%, 5.85% to 9.14% and 13.62% to 17.95% of the total fatty acids, respectively. Camellia oleifera Ruanzhi seeds from Hechi had the highest content of MUFAs (80.11%), and the predominant MUFA was oleic acid. The sample having the highest content of PUFAs was Camellia oleifera Ruanzhi seeds from Wuzhou, which contained mostly linoleic acid. The SFAs found in four samples of Camellia oleifera seeds were mainly made up of palmitic acid and stearic acid. Moreover, a small amount of 9,10-epoxystearic acid was first found in Camellia oleifera seeds from Guanxi.

Key words: Camellia oleifera seed oil, oil content, fatty acid, GC-MS