Essential oil composition of two yarrow taxonomic forms

Differences in essential oil composition of wild Achillea millefolium L., collected at five habitats in Lithuania, where plants with pink (f. rosea) and white (f. millefolium) flowers grow together, were reported. For the first time, oils of different plant organs (inflorescences and leaves) of both forms from every population were analysed in detail. Chemical analysis was performed by GC and GC-MS. The most predominant constituents of the oils were nerolidol (9.4-31.9%, in 11 out of 20 samples), caryophyllene oxide (8.4-23.0%, 4 leaf oils), -pinene (8.0-15.2%, 2 samples), eudesmol (11.8-15.8%, 2 leaf oils) and 1,8-cineole (11.9%, one inflorescence oil). Domination of nerolidol was mostly characteristic of A. millefolium f. rosea essential oils (in 8 out of 10 oils). The inflorescences biosynthesised markedly larger amounts of nerolidol and -pinene than those of the leaves. An opposite correlation was observed for caryophyllene oxide and eudesmol. Chamazulene (a parts per thousand currency sign2.7%) was determined only in six oils. The 65 identified constituents made up 75.4-96.5% of the oils.