ESSENTIAL OILS FROM NEW-ZEALAND MANUKA AND KANUKA - CHEMOTAXONOMY OF KUNZEA

A standardized analytical GC method has been used to analyse essential oils from selected Australian and New Zealand Kunzea species, grown f rom seed at a single site. The distillation yields and analyses are re ported for oils from 26 populations of K. ericoides (kanuka) and from single populations of each of K. flavescens, K. pauciflora, K. sinclai rii and x Kunzspermum hirakimata (a Kunzea x Leptospermum cross). Prin cipal components analyses of 37 GC peaks in these oils were used to di stinguish compositional patterns. Oils from K. flavescens, K. pauciflo ra and x Kunzspermum hirakimata had chemical compositions distinct fro m K. sinclairii and K. ericoides. Oils from New Zealand K. ericoides w ere mainly alpha-pinene (mean 68%), but some oils had high p-cymene co ntents, particularly oils from one Marlborough provenance (mean 31%). A wild population of K. ericoides var. linearis gave oils with similar composition to other K. ericoides oils. Two K. ericoides oils showed weak antifungal activity. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.