Effect of the environmental conditions on essential oil profile in two Dinaric Salvia species:: S-brachyodon Vandas and S-officinalis L.

Two species belonging to the genus Salvia (Salvia brachyodon Vandas and Salvia officinalis L.) from Dalmatian region were studied for their essential oil composition, genome size and base composition. These species showed the same chromosome number (2n = 14), similar genome size (0.95 and 0.97 pg/2C) and base composition (38.52 and 38.55 GC%), respectively. This is the first estimation of DNA content and base composition for both species. The chemical composition of S. officinalis essential oil was characterized by high content of oxygenated monoterpenes with cisand trans-thujone as the major constituents (57.0% and 15.0%, respectively). In contrast, the main component of S. brachyodon essential oil was oxygenated sesquiterpene humulene epoxide 11 (22.9%). S. brachyodon is an endemic Dinaric species with narrow geographical distribution limited to only two localities, one in Croatia and another at the border of Herzegovina and Montenegro. The Croatian population has been studied here for the first time. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.