Aromatic plants of tropical Central Africa. XLVIII. Comparative study of the essential oils of four Hyptis species from Cameroon: H. lanceolata Poit., H. pectinata (L.) Poit., H. spicigera Lam. and H. suaveolens Poit.

The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of fresh leaves from Hyptis lanceolata , H. pectinata , H. spicigera and H. suaveolens growing in Cameroon were analysed by GC and GC–MS. The oil of H. suaveolens was rich in sabinene (20.6%), β ‐caryophyllene (17.5%) and bergamotol (10.9%), while the oil of H. pectinata contained germacrene D (28.0%) and β ‐caryophyllene (22.1%) as the major constituents. H. spicigera oil contained α ‐pinene (28.3%), β ‐caryophyllene (19.1%), limonene (13.4%) and ß‐pinene (10.3%) as the main components. The most abundant constituents identified in the oil of H. lanceolata were β ‐pinene (40.7%) and germacrene D (19.9%). These chemical profiles were compared with literature results; relative similarities were found in chemical compositions of each species, but some quantitative and qualitative variations were noted. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.