Composition and Chemical Variation of the Essential Oil of<i>Lepechinia salviaefolia</i>(Kunth) Epl. from Venezuela

Abstract

Abstract The chemical composition of the leaf oil of Lepechinia salviaefolia (Kunth) Epl. was determined by means of GC and GC/M S. Plant material from 60 individual plants was investigated and the quantitative oil data were analyzed by a multivariate statistical analysis revealing two chemotypes. The major constituents of the palustrol-type (28 samples) were (-)-palustrol (19.1%), β-phellandrene (13.8%), borneol (11.8%) and camphene (7.2%). The oil of the premnaspirodiene-type (27 samples) was dominated by β-phellandrene (13.3%), borneol(12.3%),(-)-premnaspirodiene (9.4%) and camphene (8.5%). The presence of a third chemotype (5 samples) with δ-3-carene (12.9%), T-cadinol (9.1%) and borneol (8.4%) became evident but has to be substantiated by analysis of further samples of plant material