Volatile oil constituents of two Thymus species from Ethiopia

The volatile oils from Thymus schimperi Ronninger and T. serrulatus Hochst. ex Benth. (Lamiaceae) grown in Ethiopia, have been examined by means of GC and GC-MS. The main constituents of the essential oils of T. schimperi fro m four regions - Bale, Gender, Shewa, and Wello - were identified as p-cyme ne (9-23%), gamma -terpinene (8-17%), thymol (6-38%) and carvacrol (5-63%). The oil from T. serrulatus was found to contain p-cymene (13%), gamma -ter pinene (13%) and thymol (49%) as major components. Both species belong to t he thymol-carvacrol chemotypes. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.