We studied the essential oil production of cultivated (BK-2, Degumil) and wild chamomile populations of 4 typical chamomile-rich regions of Hungary. We examined the essential oil composition of flowers, herbs (stem plus leaves) and roots using GC and GC/MS methods. Among cultivated species, the Hungarian BK-2 contains more chamazulene in its essential oil than the German Degumil type, which is mainly cultivated for its α-bisabolol. Both components have important antiinflammatory activities. Wild populations can be easily distinguished from cultivated ones by their high amount of bisaboloides, particularly the flower of Szabadkígyós wild type, which contained on average 48 % of the biologically active (-)-α-bisabolol. The regional wild chamomile samples mentioned above have already been examined previously in our Institute. We found it interesting to compare the content of biologically active components, at the same conditions, of presently promising populations with the results obtained 20 years ago from the same species. While the content of the essential oil of rural Szabadkígyós wild type remained unchanged, there was a trend of the essential oil components towards the therapeutically important compounds. The amount of (-)-α-bisabolol in Szabadkígyós mounted up to a 3-fold increase and we measured a doublefold increase of chamazulene content in BK-2 compared with samples 20 years ago. We can conclude that although a change was observed in the essential oil content and also in the proportion of different components, the fundamental characteristics of the oils remained the same. To keep the genom of Szabadkígyós wild type having high (-)-α-bisabolol content, we used biotechnological methods. The sterile roots of organised culture contained also β-eudesmol, wich was firstly identified from the intact roots by us. Our gas chromatographical and mass-spectroscopical studies showed that sterile chamomile cultures generated the most important terpenoid and polyin compounds characteristic of the mother plant. We identified berkheyaradulene, α-selinene, geranyl-isovalerate and cedrol as new components in these sterile cultures.
We studied the anatomical characteristics, such as the structure and position of glandular and covering trichomes of four Salvia species (Lamiaceae): S. officinalis L., S. sclarea L., S .pratensis L. and S. nemorosa L. The composition of the essential oil in the various species and their plant organs: leaf, calyx and petal was also investigated. The plants used for this study were cultivated in the garden of the Ecological and Botanical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The microscopical studies were carried out using Axioscop apparatus. Extraction of essential oils was carried out by the methods of the Hungarian Pharmacopoea. The essential oil composition was analysed by a gas chromatographic method. Each organ of the Salvia species investigated contains glandular and covering trichomes. The labiate-type glandular trichomes are characteristic and other glandular trichomes composed of a unicellular head are also present. On the calyx and petal numerous glandular and covering trichomes can be found. Their structure is similar to those of S. officinalis. A few of the glandular trichomes are on the petals, too. A lot of whip-like trichomes are present, but conical unicellular trichomes are rare. The big covering trichomes, having short basal cells and a sharp terminal cell, are characteristic for the leaf of S. sclarea. Some conical covering trichomes are also found. The leaf of S. pratensis is poor in trichomes. There are rarely multicellular covering and glandular trichomes with a unicellular head. Comparing the essential oil composition of the fresh and dried plant organs of the four Salvia species, differences exists only in S. officinalis. The dominant components are sesquiterpenes: α-humulene and caryophyllene in the fresh leaf-oil. In dried leaf oil, the monoterpene thujone isomers were characteristic. The qualitative oil composition of the three organs does not differ, but the percentage occurrence of the components is variable. The thujone isomers are dominant (17-20 %) in the leafand calyx-oil, but there is only 5,9 % in the petal-oil. The main component of petaloil is the pharmacologically active β-pinene (24,4 %). For the composition of S. pratensis oil, β-caryophyllene and γ-muurolene are characteristic. Their ratio in the calyx and petal-oils are similar, but in the leaf-oil, this is reversed. The structure of the covering trichomes and the percentage occurrence of the oil components provides a good basis for the differentiation of Salvia species.
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