Essential oils of three Salvia species from the Pannonian part of Serbia

Abstract

The essential oils of Salvia reflexa Hornem., S. nemorosa L. and S. glutinosa L., collected from the Pannonian part of Serbia have been studied. The oil content was determined gravimetrically in n-hexane and it ranged from 0.06-0.142%. The percentage yields of oil were low, therefore investigated species could be assigned to the group of oil-poor members of the family Lamiaceae. The essential oil composition was analysed by GC-MS. In S. reflexa 27 constituents were identified, 23 in S. nemorosa, and 13 in S. glutinosa. In all samples the oil was characterized by high content of sesquiterpenes. The major constituents in S. reflexa oil were palmitic acid (28.02%) and sesquiterpene alcohol spathulenol (22.55%), while in the oil of S. nemorosa and S. glutinosa oxygenated sesquiterpene caryophyllene oxide was the main compound, averaged 23.36% and 33.34%, respectively. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd