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The essential oil of Espeletia schultzii of different altitudinal populations
Author(s) -
Ibañez J.,
Usubillaga A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
flavour and fragrance journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.393
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1099-1026
pISSN - 0882-5734
DOI - 10.1002/ffj.1586
Subject(s) - monoterpene , essential oil , chemistry , myrcene , asteraceae , altitude (triangle) , botany , composition (language) , terpenoid , chemical composition , pinene , food science , biology , limonene , organic chemistry , stereochemistry , linguistics , geometry , mathematics , philosophy
Espeletia schultzii (Asteraceae) is a widely distributed polycarpic caulirosette with densely hairly leaves that grows at 2600–4200 m altitude in the Venezuelan Andes. The essential oil of plants collected at different vegetative stages at three different paramos was obtained by hydrodistillation. Analyses were carried out on a GC and GC–MS system. Monoterpene hydrocarbons constituted the most abundant fraction (80.0–93.8%), while oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes occurred in small proportions. The most abundant constituents were α ‐pinene, α ‐phellandrene and myrcene. α ‐Thujene, which was the fourth most abundant constituent at La Culata and Los Osos (7.1–16.7%), was found in small quantities in plants collected at Pico del Aguila (0.1–2.1%). No significant differences in composition were observed in oils from plants collected at different blooming stages but differences in composition were evident in oils from plants collected at different paramos. This implies that altitude could be a factor influencing the chemistry of the plant. Association analysis showed chemical variation in the essential oil from the three different sites. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.