THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF THE YELLOW BLOODWOOD EUCALYPTS (CORYMBIA, SECTION OCHRARIA, MYRTACEAE)

The essential oils from the 13 species comprising section Ochraria (th e yellow bloodwoods) within the genus Corymbia have been determined. T he species fell into two groups according to the cr-pinene composition . Corymbia aureola, C. bunites, C. leichhardtii, C. leptoloma, C. pelt ata, C. dimorpha, C. watsoniana subsp. capillata and C. catenaria all contained high amounts of alpha-pinene (39-88%), while C. bloxsomei, C . eximia, C. petalophylla, C. scabrida and C. watsoniana subsp. watson iana contained alpha-pinene at levels of 5-34%. Numerical methods supp ort this division. The differences in oil content between C. watsonian a subsp. capillata and C. catenaria seem to support the raising of the latter entity to species status. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.