VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF LEAVES, ROOTS AND STEMS FROM ARISTOLOCHIA-ELEGANS

The volatile oils from roots, stems and leaves of Aristolochia elegans Mast., collected at different stages of development, were obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC-mass spectrometry. All th e samples of essential oils were found to be rich in sesquiterpenes. S esquiterpene hydrocarbons, in particular beta-caryophyllene, isocaryop hyllene and bicyclogermacrene were the predominated components in the oil from the leaves, whereas their amounts were significantly decrease d in the essential oils of the other plant parts. The oxygenated sesqu iterpenes, mainly E-nerolidol, were the main constituents of the oils from stems and roots. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.