Abstract
The essential oil from Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus, a coastal Thymus species growing in the surroundings of Trondheim in middle Norway, was found to contain mainly linalyl acetate (about 70%) like some Icelandic plant material investigated before. The variable content of the sesquiterpene alcohols, nerolidol, hedycaryol, and T-cadinol in the essential oil gave reason to define six different chemotypes. The pattern of the chemotype characterizing compounds was identical with that of six of the eight chemotypes now known from Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus. The accordance in the essential oil chemistry and in the appearance of polychemism of the Norwegian plants with the Icelandic plants indicates that the distance of 800 km between Norway and Iceland has not led to locally limited “chemical races“ within the Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus.
