Fecha de publicación: 28/01/2005 Fuente: WIPO "apiculture" Patent 527587 A process of preparing a volatile fraction of a plant is disclosed, wherein the process comprises the steps of:(a) grinding a plant material to give a plant biomass; (b) mixing the plant biomass with water at a weight ration of 3 parts water to 1 part biomass and stirring the same for at least 2 hours at ambient temperature, to thereby obtain a water extract of said plant biomass; (c) steam distilling the mixture obtained in step (b) under a pressure that ranges from 5 to 10mbar and at a bath temperature not exceeding 38° C; and (d) collecting the volatile fraction obtained by said steam distillation, which fraction may be further diluted with a suitable buffer. Also disclosed is a formulation having a biologically or therapeutically beneficial effect comprising at least one volatile fraction (VF) of a plant extract, wherein the plant extract is obtained by water extraction and the volatile fraction being prepared by steam distillation of said plant extract under reduced pressure that ranges from 5 to 10mbar and at a bath temperature not exceeding 38° C.