THE VOLATILES OF 5 MICROMERIA SPECIES ENDEMIC TO THE CANARY-ISLANDS

Canary Islands is reported. These species were found to contain bornan e and pinane types of bicyclic monoterpenes as the most important comp onents of their essential oils. The analysis showed that the Micromeri a species studied could be grouped according to the monoterpene skelet on type. M. lachnophylla and M. lasiophylla subsp. palmensis were char acterized by larger amounts of bornane type monoterpenes than pinane t ype monoterpenes. M. lasiophylla subsp. palmensis in addition to those compounds, contained linalool as the other main constituent. The vola tile ails of M. varia and M. hyssopifolia were found to contain simila r quantities of bornane and pinane type components. M. varia also accu mulated large amounts of (E)-nerolidol. Two samples of M. herpyllomorf a were characterized by larger amounts of pinane type manoterpenes tha n bornane type monoterpenes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd