ESSENTIAL OILS FROM FRUITS OF 3 TYPES OF THAPSIA-VILLOSA

Thapsia villosa has been divided into five types and previous analyses of the essential oils from the fruits of two of these types showed th at limonene and methyl eugenol were the major constituents. The compos ition of the essential oils from the fruits of the other three types o f T. villosa, with the chromosome numbers 2n = 22 (2x), 2n = 22 (2x) a nd 2n = 44 (4x), is reported here. The oil from all three types shows a similar chemical profile, with geranyl acetate as the main constitue nt accounting for 78-92% of the total oil. The composition of the esse ntial oils from these plants is clearly different from the first two t ypes of T. villosa mentioned, and also from the other species within t he genus Thapsia. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd