Seasonal variation of essential oil of germplasm of Lippia origanoides Kunth. (Verbenaceae)

The biological activities attributed to Lippia origanoides Kunth. vary according to the chemical composition of its essential oil, which can be related to weather factors. The aim of this research was the seasonal study of the essential oil chemical composition taken from L. origanoides accessions maintained in germplasm bank in vivo. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation in Clevenger apparatus and identification of the components was done by GC-MS. We have identified 15 compounds of which carvacrol, p-cymene, thymol and methyl-ether-thymol were majority throughout the year for most accessions. In three accessions showed fluctuations in the production of the major compound during the year like the ??-pinene, limonene and borneol. The essential oil showed variation in chemical composition throughout the year, the major compound in most of the accessions during the year is carvacrol. In some accessions, there are alterations of the majority component.