Essential oils of indigenous in Greece six Juniperus taxa

Abstract

The chemical composition of 14 essential oils (EOs), obtained from various parts (leaves, fruits, wood) of the six indigenous in Greece Juniperus family taxa, was determined by GC and GC/MS analysis. The insecticidal properties of these EOs were evaluated against Culex pipiens L. larvae of 3rd and early 4th instars, in order to delineate the relationship between the phytochemical content of the EOs and their larvicidal activities. The analytical data indicated that the EOs mainly consisted of monoterpenes, mostly cyclic and only occasionally aliphatic, and to a lesser percent, of diterpenes. The larvicidal bioassays against C. pipiens larvae revealed that the most active EO was derived from the wood of Juniperus drupacea and contains mainly non-oxygenated monoterpenes and a significant amount of diterpenes, displaying the highest chemodiversity. Its initial LC(50) value was 26.47 mg L(-1). On the contrary, the EO isolated from J. phoenicea berries, which consisted of monoterpenes (non-oxygenated, cyclic), was the less active displaying an LC(50) value of 96.69 mg L(-1). In respect to the contained phytochemicals, myrcene was assayed as the most toxic, displaying an LC(50) value of 33.83 mg L(-1), while the four isomers of pinene abundant in all EOs were less active exhibiting LC(50) values ranging from 70.40 to 94.88 mg L(-1). Results herein reveal that the EOs isolated from the studied Juniperus family taxa represent an inexpensive source of natural mosquito control mixtures.

Juniperus phoenicea var. turbinata (Guss.) Parl. Leaf Essential Oil Variability in the Balkans

“…phoenicea var. turbinata throughout its range is dominated with α ‐pinene, ranging from as little as 20.8% to as high as 66.9%, only in one individual sample from Marathonas beach, the dominant component was limonene – 26.1% . Other most abundant components varied from sample to sample, but almost always included α ‐phellandrene, β ‐phellandrene, α ‐terpinyl acetate and/or δ ‐3‐carene.…”

“…turbinata throughout its range is dominated with a-pinene, ranging from as little as 20.8% [28] to as high as 66.9%, [24] only in one individual sample from Marathonas beach, the dominant component was limonene -26.1%. [24] Other most abundant components varied from sample to sample, but almost always included aphellandrene, b-phellandrene, a-terpinyl acetate and/ or d-3-carene. Figure 4 shows the ratio of dominant components of Balkan populations (present work and literature data) as well as of their nearest neighbours, populations from Sardinia and Corsica.…”

“…Individuals from populations VI and data from literature were not assigned to any group, their position is based on linear discriminant classification. a -Corsica type II, [16] b -Anitira beach, [24] c -Nea Epidavros, [1] d -Corsica type I, [16] e -Sardinia. [17] Considering still unresolved relationship within J. pheonicea s.l.…”

“…Molecular data also show high intrapopulation variability, and only moderate differentiation of populations across the region, attributed to wind pollination and ornithochory . Even though there have been numerous studies on the composition of essential oil from around the Mediterranean, the eastern Mediterranean region was poorly covered in all of these studies, and only a few individual trees were ever studied in the Balkans, often showing completely different chemical composition between one another …”

Essential oil composition of berries of Juniperus oxycedrus L. ssp. oxycedrus according to their ripening stage

“…Antifungal and antimicrobial activity have been also reported (6,(8)(9)(10). Other researches deal with healthcare field: wounds healing (11), activity against protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania (12) or antiproliferative activity in leukemia cells (13), as well as insecticidal activity like that reported against Sitophilus oryzae (14) or the larvicidal action against Culex pipiens (15).…”