Essential oil variability of Satureja cuneifolia Ten. growing wild in Southern Puglia (Italy)

Satureja cuneifolia Tell. spontaneously growing in 12 sites in Southern Puglia (Italy), was characterized oil the basis of its essential oil composition. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of steam-distilled oil were performed by GC and GC/MS. Cluster analysis made it possible to identify four different chemotypes: linalool, borneol, alpha-pinene, and borneol/alpha-pinene. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) highlighted the relations existing between the compounds that constitute the. essential oils. Moreover, spatial autocorrelation, evaluated in the space described by the principal components, was used to analyse the relationships between chemical polymorphism and certain large-scale environmental conditions proper to sampling sites. Specifically, the arrangement of values in relation to Yearly Rainfall (YR) was found not to be random: the findings showed that increased water availability in the soil causes an arise in the presence of the borneol chemotype. In contrast, reduced water availability is directly correlated with the presence of the linalool and alpha-pinene chemotypes.