Comparison of Essential Oil Profiles of Satureja montana L. and Endemic Satureja visianii Silic

Satureja is a genus of the well-known medicinal plants of Lamiaceae family that comprises numerous species growing wild in the Mediterranean area. The essential oils of Satureja visianii Silic and Satureja montana L., growing together at the same habitat under similar environmental conditions, were subjected to detailed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis in order to compare their chemical composition. S. visianii Silic is a stenoendemic species with narrow geographical distribution limited to only one locality, Peljesac Peninsula in Croatia. More than one hundred twenty compounds were identified in both plant oils representing 90.4 % - 99.5 % of the total oil. The most abundant components in S. visianii essential oil were viridiflorol (17.9 %), borneol (12.6 %) and camphor (6.5 %), while S. montana oil was rich in phenolic compounds carvacrol (59.1 %) and thymol (20.1 %).