AUTUMN ESSENTIAL OILS OF GREEK OREGANO

The essential oils of Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum plants collected in late autumn from six localities of three distinct geographic areas of Greece were analysed by means of GC and GC-mass spectrometry. A hig h quantitative variation was found in the amount of the four main comp onents; gamma-terpinene ranged from 0.6 to 3.6% of the total essential oil, p-cymeme from 17.3 to 51.3%, thymol from 0.2 to 42.8%, and carva crol from 1.7% to 69.6%. Plants collected from the northern part of Gr eece were rich in thymol (30.3-42.8% of total oil), whereas those from the southern part of the country were rich in carvacrol (57.4-69.6% o f total oil). Furthermore, comparison with the essential oils obtained from plants collected from the same localities in mid-summer shows no ticeable differences in the total oil content and the concentration of the four main oil components. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd .