Five wild-growing Artemisia (Asteraceae) species from Serbia and Montenegro: Essential oil composition and its chemophenetic significance

Abstract

In this work, the essential oils (EOs) obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of five Artemisia species: A. alba Turra, A. pontica L., A. scoparia Waldst. & Kitam., A. vulgaris L., originating from Serbia and A. umbelliformis Lam. subsp. eriantha (Ten.) Vallès-Xirau & Oliva Brañas, originating from Montenegro were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In total, 91 compounds were detected, and 78 were identified. Even though a high number of compounds were detected, each sample had only 18 to 35, attesting to a great diversity of compounds within these taxa. Depending on the species and the locality (geographical origin), the EO was dominated by either monoterpenes or sesquiterpenes, with artemisia ketone, 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol), fragranol, α-thujone, β-thujone and myrcene being the dominant compounds. The obtained results were coupled with extensive literature data and used in multivariate chemometric approach to assess the chemophenetic significance of the EO.