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Analysis of the essential oil of two different altitudinal populations of Coespeletia moritziana (Sch. Bip.ex Wedd) Cuatrec
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.1655
Subject(s) - essential oil , germacrene d , chemistry , botany , chemical composition , altitude (triangle) , germacrene , composition (language) , pinene , sesquiterpene , food science , biology , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , geometry , mathematics
Coespeletia moritziana is a resinous plant that grows between 3700 and 4400 m at the high paramos of western Venezuela. The essential oil of leaves and flowering stalks of two altitudinal populations was analyzed at different blooming stages. GC‐MS analysis permitted identification of 21 components which made up 90–96% of the oil. It was found that α ‐pinene (>50%) and β ‐pinene (11–19%) were the most abundant constituents, while germacrene D, α ‐ylangene and α ‐zingiberene were the most abundant sesquiterpenes. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the existence of chemical variation in the essential oil at the two altitudinal populations of C. moritziana while oil composition at different vegetative stages did not show significant differences. These results suggest that altitude is a factor influencing the chemistry of this plant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.