Infraspecific variability of the essential oil of Calamintha nepeta from Corsica (France)

The chemical composition of 40 samples of essential oil of Calamintha nepet a, growing wild in Corsica, was examined. After a preliminary study on a si ngle plant, which allowed definition of the full blossom as the stable peri od for harvesting, the existence of three chemotypes was demonstrated. Half of the samples were characterized by a menthone/pulegone chemotype, 13 sam ples present pulegone as the major component associated with menthone, whil e piperitone and piperitenone oxides were the main components of the last 1 1 samples. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.