THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF AUSTRALIAN MEMBERS OF THE GENUS ASTEROMYRTUS (MYRTACEAE)

The foliage of the six mainland Australian members of the recently rei nstated genus Asteromyrtus has yielded essential oils which qualitativ ely contain the same mixtures of mono- and sesquiterpenes. Quantitativ ely, however, the oils differ from each other and could be used to dif ferentiate the species. Asteromyrtus angustifolia contains an oil whos e principal components are alpha-pinene (10%), 1,8-cineole (31%) and b eta-caryophyllene (23%). The oil of A. arnhemica contains alpha-pinene (92%) as its principal component. Asteromyrtus brassii yields an oil whose principal components are alpha-pinene (6%), 1,8-cineole (24%), g amma-terpinene (21%). The principal components of the oil from A. lysi cephala are alpha-pinene (11.2%), 1,8-cineole (49%) and alpha-terpinyl acetate (4%), while for that of A. magnifica they are alpha-pinene (1 4%), beta-cineole (20%) and 1,8-cineole (36%). The oil from A. symphyo carpa is rich in alpha-pinene (16%) and 1,8-cineole (40%). Principal c oordinate and single linkage cluster analyses were used to determine t he infrageneric relationships based upon the essential oil data. The a nalyses do not provide support for a classification of the species bas ed upon morphological-reproductive features.