Intraspecific Variability of the Essential Oil of Cladanthus mixtus from Morocco

Abstract

Air-dried aerial parts of wild Cladanthus mixtus were collected from two different regions of Morocco, Bouznika and Oujda, during 2011 and 2012. Forty individual plant samples were hydrodistilled using a Clevenger apparatus and the obtained essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The yield obtained varies greatly with a range of 0.3 to 0.8%. The chemical composition of C. mixtus oils changes from one region to another. A total of 53 constituents were identified. To the best of our knowledge, two chemotypes were defined for the first time for this species in the regions studied. 2-Methyl-2-trans-butenyl methacrylate (32.8–35.2%) / ar-curcumene (13–14%) characterize the chemotypeof the C. mixtus plants from Bouznika, and trans-β-farnesene (35.5–50.3%) the chemotype from Oujda.