Chemical Variations on the Essential Oils of Cunila spicata Benth. (Lamiaceae), an Aromatic and Medicinal Plant From South Brazil.

Volatile oils from aerial parts of 10 Brazilian accessions of Cunila spicata were characterized by analytical gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. Twenty-three constituents accounting fir 89.04-98.00% of the total essential oil were identified. Four new chemotypes of this species with high concentrations of linalool/1,8- cineole, 1 ,8-cineole, carvone/carveol, and 1 ,8-cineole/limonene were identified. Geographically, all the accessions from the Southeast range of Rio Grande do Sul State belonged to the linalool/1,8-cineole chemotype, where those from the Northeast mountains of the State were distributed in the four chemical groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]