Kuiate, J-R; Zollo, P-HA; Lamaty, G; Menut, C; Bessiere, J-M

Flavour and Fragrance Journal [Flavour Fragrance J.], vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 167-169, Jun 1999

Four essential oil samples obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Aspilia africana var. africana and a corresponding sample of A. africana var. ambigua were analysed by GC and GC-MS. The two varieties were poor in essential oil content (<0.1%). The qualitative composition of the essential oils was found to be quite similar, irrespective of the area and date of plant collection. Marked differences were, however, observed in the quantitative composition of the oils from the two varieties. As far as A. africana var. africana is concerned, two oil samples from Bafoussam were rich in sesquiterpenes (88% and 94%) with germacrene-D (45% and 54%) as the major component, while two oil samples from Yaounde contained mainly monoterpenes (63% and 48%) with alpha -pinene (39% and 27%) as the most abundant component. The variety A. africana var. ambigua afforded an essential oil rich in monoterpenes (54%) with limonene (23%) and alpha -pinene (22%) as predominating components. Finally, the insect antijuvenile hormone precocene I was found to be present in all samples of the two varieties.