Essential oil of wildOcotea quixos (Lam.) Kosterm. (Lauraceae) leaves from Amazonian Ecuador

Abstract

The essential oil extracted by steam distillation from the leaves of wild Ocotea quixos (Lauraceae) was analysed by GC and GC–MS. Sixty-one compounds were identified, representing 93.6% of the total detected. The main components were β-caryophyllene (15.1%), cinnamyl acetate (11.4%), sabinene (7.6%), geranial (5.6%) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (5.1%). Remarkable differences were noted with respect to the essential oil previously obtained from the flower calices of the same plant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.