Essential oil of Salvia officinalis L. from Serbia and Montenegro

The content and composition of essential oil in the leaves and flowers of 11 populations of Salvia officinalis L. native in Montenegro (nine populations) and Serbia (two populations) have been studied. The yield of oils was generally higher in the leaves than the flowers. The Serbian populations proved to be the richest in leaf oil (average content 1.66%). Montenegro speciments showed significant interpopulation variation and the yields averaged 1.41% for the leaves and 1.13% for the flowers. The main compounds in the leaves were oxygenated monoterpenes: alpha-thujone (15.79 +/- 4.9%), beta-thujone (3.49 +/- 1.21%), 1.8-cineol (12.09 +/- 15%), camphor (11.49 +/- 7.69%), borneol (4.17 +/- 2.23%) and bomyl acetate (2.19 +/- 1.22%). Among the dominant sesquiterpenes were: alpha-humulene (7.70 +/- 3.12%), viridiflorol (13.19 +/- 5.17%) and manool (7.67 +/- 2.98%). In the flowers, percentages of a-thujone and camphor were significantly lower than in the leaves and averaged 9.97 +/- 1.49% and 5.82 +/- 5.6%, respectively, whereas the ratios of borneol (6.35 +/- 2.47%) and sesquiterpenes, particularly manool (13.48 +/- 3.56%), were higher. Great variation was found in the proportions of the major compounds between the populations examined. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.