Composition and infraspecific variability of Artemisia herba-alba from southern Spain

The composition of the essential oils of 16 individual plants of Artemisia herba-alba Asso ssp. valentina (Lam.) Marcl. (at the full bloom stage) growing wild in four different locations from southern Spain were investigated by capillary GC and GC-MS in combination with retention indices. Among the 60 identified constituents (accounting for 80.6-95.0% of the oils), 33 have been reported for the first time in Spanish A. herba-alba oil and 17 of them have not been previously described in A. herba-alba oil. From the analysis of the oil samples, it could be deduced that a noticeable chemical polymorphism typified this taxon. Four groups of essential oils exhibited a single compound with percentages near 30% or higher: davanone, 1,8-cineole, chrysanthenone and cis-chrysanthenol. Two further oil types showed p-cymene and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate as major components in moderate amounts (ca. 20%). All of these types of essential oils have not been previously found in A. herba-alba from Spain and the appearance of such considerable amount of p-cymene is described here for the first time in A. herba-alba. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.