Intraespecific variation in leaf oils of Lippia junelliana (mold.) tronc

The purpose of this work was to assess the essential oil variation of Lippia junelliana from 16 different sites of mid-west Argentina. The essential oil of L. junelliana was dominated by monoterpenes (70-94%) with low amount of sesquiterpenes (3-10%) and phenylpropanoids (0.2-3%). More than 80 compounds were detected in the species. However, only eight were found as major component in the oils. According to these components, four wild chemotypes were detected. The first chemotype contained high levels of ocimenone (54-76%) with lower amounts of myrcene (10%). The second was composed of large amounts of dihydrocarvone (59-80%). The main constituents found in the third chemotype were limonene (10-40%) and piperitenone (10-40%) and the fourth chemotype contained limonene (41%) and piperitenone oxide (26%). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.