Composition of the Essential Oil of Monizia edulis Lowe, an Endemic Species of the Madeira Archipelago

✍ Scribed by A. Cristina Figueiredo; José G. Barroso; Luis G. Pedro; Susana S. Fontinha; Anja Looman; Johannes J. C. Scheffer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 113 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0882-5734
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1026(199701)12:1<29::aid-ffj607>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

The composition of the essential oils isolated separately from leaves and from in¯orescences of Monizia edulis Lowe was analysed by GC and GC±MS. During the ¯owering period of the plant, monoterpenes were the most abundant components of both oils (57% of the leaf oil and 51% of the oil from the in¯orescences). g-Terpinene (37% and 44% of the two oils, respectively) and myristicin (18% and 40% respectively) were the predominant oil components. The sesquiterpene fraction of the leaf oil (16%) was dominated by zingiberene (8%) and b-caryophyllene (7%), whereas that of the oil from the in¯orescences (4%) contained b-caryophyllene (4%) as the major component. During the vegetative phase of the plant, myristicin (37%) was the main component of the essential oil isolated from the leaves. In this oil, the monoterpenes amounted to 40%, g-terpinene (21%) and trans-b-ocimene (14%) being main components. The sesquiterpene fraction was rather small (9%), and b-caryophyllene (8%) was its most abundant component. n-Alkanes (14%) constituted another important fraction of this oil.