Download PDF
Planta Med 1991; 57(4): 347-351
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-960115
Papers

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Chemical, Physiological, and Toxicological Aspects of the Essential Oil of Some Species of the Genus Bystropogon*

Dimitrios Economou[1] , Adolf Nahrstedt[1]
  • Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie und Phytochemie der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität, Hittorfstr. 56, D-4400 Münster, Federal Republic of Germany
* Dedicated to Professor Ernst Reinhard on the occasion of his 65th birthday on August 21, 1991.
Further Information

Publication History

1991

Publication Date:
05 January 2007 (online)

  PDF Download  Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

The composition of the essential oils of Bystropogon plumosus, B. origanifolius var. palmensis, B. wildpretii, B. maderensis, and B. canariensis var. smithianus were studied by GLC and GLC/MS. The first four species provide relatively similar oils characterized by monoterpene ketones as the main constituents while the last species is quite different with main constituents consisting of mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. In B. plumosus the ontogenetic variation of the monoterpene ketones was studied for a period of four years. During this time the behaviour of pulegone was inversely correlated with that of menthone and isomenthone. Pulegone was the most active compound of the monoterpene ketones in antimicrobial tests using three species of bacteria and fungi, respectively.

Key words

Essential oil - monoterpene ketones - pulegone - menthone - isomenthone - ontogenetic variation - antimicrobial activity - toxicity - Bystropogon - Lamiaceae

1 Part of the dissertation thesis of D. Economou (29)

      >