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Study of the essential oil of three species of thyme in their limit of distribution in Spain

Abstract:

We analyzed the essential oils of three cultivated thymes whose provenance was populations at the limit of their distribution in Spain. In the flowering stage, the Peninsular endemic Th. villosus subsp. lusitanicus has linalool (49.6%) as principal component, an evidence for the chemical polymorphism described for this taxon. For Th. caespititius, high values are obtained for α-terpineol (41.1%), confirming the chemical homogeneity in the Iberian Peninsula. The studied population of the Eurosiberian species Th. pulegioides, which is at its southern limit in the Iberian Peninsula, has as principal components γ-terpinene (31.7%), thymol (25.6%), p-cymene (16.4%), and carvacrol (3.5%), values which do not compare readily with the literature data. The chemical analyses performed for the fruiting stage are new. The only major differences with the flowering stage are found for Th. pulegioides. © 2011, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.