Populations of A. annua cultivar 'Jeevanraksha' and accession Suraksha were grown in the experimental field plot of the Institute at New Delhi. The seeds were sown in January 2004, seedlings transplanted in late February 2004 and aerial parts (flowers, leaves and stems from the upper 0.5 m of crop canopy) sampled in late October 2004.

Ninety-seven compounds comprising 91.3% of the total oil of 'Jeevanraksha' were identified. Forty-three monoterpenes (56.6%), 32 sesquiterpenes (31.1%), and 2 diterpenes (0.2%) comprised bulk of the oil (87.9%). The oil was devoid of artemisia ketone and contained camphor (13.5%), 1,8-cineole (9.4%), trans-sabinol (7.1%), p-mentha-1(7), 5-dien-2-ol (6.3%), myrcene (4.7%), germacrene D (4.4%), (E)-beta-farnesene (3.9%), beta-caryophyllene (3.7%), dihydroartemisinic lactone (3.0%) and p-cymene (2.0%) as the major constituents. Eighty-six compounds representing 93.3% of the composition were identified in the Suraksha oil. This oil contained artemisia ketone (47%), 1,8-cineole (8.4%), camphor (5.9%) and alpha-pinene (5.2%) as the major components.

Aerial parts of endemic pichana were harvested in December 1996 at different localities of northern Patagonia. Origin: Planicie Banderita, Dept. Confluencia, Province of NeuquCn. Habitat: altitude, 327 m; average temperature in the station, 21.8 ℃; annual precipitation, 125 mm; sandy soils. Aerial parts (5 kg, 2 kg of dried material;humidity, 11%) from four well developed plants at the fullflowering stage (December, 1996). Sample 2 : Origin: RincBn de 10s; Sauces, Dept. of Pehuenclies, Province of Neuqukn. Habitat: altitude, 750 m; average temperature in the station, 20.9 ℃; annual precipitation, 147 mm; sandy and gritty salty soils. Aerial parts (5 kg, 1.85 kg of dried material, humidity, 10%), from two well developed plants at the full flowering stage, and after several days copious rains (December, 1996). Sample 3: Origin: Coronel GBmez, Dept. General Roca, Province of Rio Negro. Habitat: altitude, 242 m; average temperature in the station, 22.5 ℃; annual precipitation, 179 mm; sandy and stony soils. Aerial parts (4.5 kg, 1.3 kg of dried material, humidity, 9%), from 12 young plants at the beginning flowering stage (December, 1996).

Fifty-four components, representing approximately 84.6-97.4% of the oil samples, were identified. The samples consisted mainly of hydrocarbons and oxygenated monoterpenes. The major constituents were limonene (28.7-56.7%), 6R-7R-bisabolone (3.2-9.1%), sabinene (0.1-11.0%) and citronellal (2.4-5.2%). Significant differences among the content of the three samples could be the result of changes in the climatic conditions (sample 2: Rincon de los Sauces, Province of Neuquen, after strong rains) or by translocations in different parts of the plant (sample 3: Coronel Gomez, Province of Rio Negro, more leaves and less stems).

The leaves and stems of Ichthyothere terminalis were collected at Marapanim, PA (sample A) and Manaus, AM (sample B).

The chief constituent found in the leaf oil of sample of, I. terminalis collected at Marapanim (PA) was sabinene (18.0%). The leaf oil of I. terminalis collected at Manaus (AM) was dominated by alpha-pinene (19-8%), sabinene (14.8%) and limonene (35.8%), while the main components identified in the stem oil were alpha-pinene (13.9%) and limonene (20.0%).

Plant material: Samples of L. latifolia were collected in August 1998 during the full flowering period (L/La) and in October 1998 during the fruiting period (L/Lb) from three different spike lavender populations located into the Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park (Jaen province, Spain). The plant material from each population consisted of the twigs of several single plants. L/La (Location: 'Garganta de Hornos', Altitude (m): 950, Harvesting date: August 14, 1998, Phenological stage: Flowering); L/Lb (Location: 'Garganta de Hornos', Altitude (m): 950, Harvesting date: October 15, 1998, Phenological stage: Fruiting).

The small amounts of linalool needed to match the standard can be reached in a natural way (from full flowering to fruiting) which means it is important to choose the most convenient time of harvest in the studied area.

The aerial parts of M. biflora collected during November 1993 and June 1994 were used for the investigation.

The major constituents of the oil were neral (25.3-32.2%) and geranial (26.7-41.3%). The oil produced in the winter was found to contain higher amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes than the oil produced in the summer.

The leaves of R. eriocalyx were harvested at random from two localities of the forest in the North and South ranges of Boutaleb in Algeria at different altitudes during the full flowering stage. Sample N3(Locality: Northern slope; Altitude (m): 850; Collection date: Mar 20,1993); Sample S3(Locality: Southern slope; Altitude (m): 850; Collection date: Mar 20,1993).

Concerning the alcohols, the highest amount of 1,8-cineole (11.4%) coincided with a very low amount of terpinen-4-ol(1.0%) in sample N3 as well as with a generally low concentration of hydrocarbons (apart from camphene and pinene) in all samples of R. eriocalyx.

Samples of R. officinalis were collected in April 1998 during the full flowering period (Ro-1a), between June and July 1998 during the fruiting period (Ro-1b) and in December 1998 during the hibernation period (Ro-1c) from Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park (province of Jaen, Spain). The plant material consisted of ca. 10 twigs per plant (with blossoming tips or not, depending of the harvesting date) from 5-10 single plants. Ro-1a (Location: Las Chozuelas, Altitude (m): 1150, Harvesting date: April 21, 1998, Phenological stage: Flowering); Ro-1b (Location: Las Chozuelas, Altitude (m): 1150, Harvesting date: June 19, 1998, Phenological stage: Fruiting); Ro-1c (Location: Las Chozuelas, Altitude (m): 1150, Harvesting date: December 30, 1998, Phenological stage: Hibernation).

The highest oil yields (161.8%) were recorded during the fruiting period (summer). In general, minimum amounts of camphor and maximum amounts of alpha-pinene were observed in winter. The concentration of 1,8-cineole was almost constant throughout the year, though other oil constituent levels varied randomly with the plant life cycle

Aerial parts of both varieties(Salvia euphratica Montbret et Aucher ex Benth. var. euphratica and Salvia euphratica Montbret et Aucher ex Benth. var. leiocalycina) were collected in Malatya, Turkey in June 1999.

Ninety-five compounds in var. euphratica and 94 compounds in var. leiocalycina were characterized representing 93% and 95% of the total components detected, respectively, with 1,8-cineole (13.8% and 15.2%) and myrtenyl acetate (15.9% and 13.9%) as main constituents.

Plant material and isolation procedure: Aerial parts of the plant were collected from two regions, from Kazeroon in southern Iran and Shahr-e-kord in western Iran at the time of flowering in June 2002.

The main components of the oil of S. pilifera collected from Kazeroon, in southern Iran, were spathulenol (15.8%), cis-chrysanthenol (15.3%), beta-caryophyllene (8.4%) and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (6.9%), while for the plant collected from Shahr-e-kord, in western Iran, they were cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (21.8%), linalool (18.9%), terpinen-4-ol (11.9%) and cis-chrysanthenol (9.2%).

Talauma ovata was collected from October 2003 to February 2005. Leaves and trunk bark from the same set of plants were collected in the four seasons: spring (October 15th, 2003), autumn (April 10th, 2004), winter (July 17th, 2004) and summer (February 15th, 2005). In addition, trunk bark was also collected on January 22nd, 2004 (summer). The plant material was harvested from wild-growing population in Santos Dumont City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, (21° 28′ 03″ S, 43° 39′ 26″ W), at 1000 m of altitude.

In each season the composition of trunk bark oils was similar to leaf oils, with mainly quantitative differences. However considerable seasonal variation was observed. Significant levels of monoterpenes were found only in autumn. The content of oxygenated sesquiterpenes was highest in samples of spring (October) and decreased in summer (January and February), reaching the lowest level in autumn (April) and increasing again in winter (July). In trunk bark oils the main constituents were: spathulenol, alpha-eudesmol, linalool, trans-beta-guaiene and caryophyllene oxide. The major component in all samples of trunk bark was spathulenol. Its level was highest in October (46.8%), decreased in January (33.3%), remained stable in April and July (18.0%) and increased again in February of next year (27.7%). Levels of alpha-eudesmol were high in spring (13.0%) and autumn (11.5%). Linalool peaked only in April, while trans-beta-guaiane peaked in July (11.1%). Caryophyllene oxide ranged between 10.7-2.0%. The level was highest in January, decreased regularly until July and increased slightly again in October. In leaf oils the main components were: spathulenol, germacrene B, germacrene D, caryophyllene oxide and viridiflorol. Spathulenol was the major component in sample of spring (34.4%), but decreased gradually until winter, when reached the lowest level (9.4%). Caryophyllene oxide showed a similar pattern, varying from 14.1% (spring) to 2.4% (winter). An inverse effect was observed for viridiflorol, which increased from 0.1% in October to 13.7% in July. Important levels of alpha-eudesmol were observed in October (12.3%) and February (9.5%). The percentage of germacrene D was highest in summer, while germacrene B showed high amounts in autumn and winter. The seasonal changes in oil composition of T. ovata can be associated with cycle of life of plant (flowering, fruiting and vegetative stages) and climatic parameters such as intense raining in the spring and summer.

Plant materials were collected during the flowering period in July 2002 from the Dumluca Mountain in the vicinity of Divrigi village of Sivas city at 1900 m altitude and Saksagan Gorge in Saimbeyli village of Adana city at 1900 m altitude.

The flower, stem and root oils of T. cadmeum ssp. orientale collected from the Adana location were characterized with alpha-thujone (25%, 5.2%), cis-linalool oxide (6.8%, 12.8%), trans-chrysanthenyl acetate (5.8%, 8.5%) for flower and stem oils, and beta-eudesmol (10.3%, 6.2%, 13.8%); in addition, stem oil contained 1,8-cineole (6.6%) and root oil contained hexadecanoic acid (6.0%), spathulenol (5.8%) and beta-muurolol (5.3%). The flower and stem oils of T. cadmeum ssp. orientale collected from the Sivas location were characterized with camphor (25.9%, 14.8%), borneol (15.4%, 25.8%) and alpha-thujone (7.8%, 5.5%); in addition, stem oil contained 1,8-cineole (7.4%) and root oil contained nonacosane (16.2%), spathulenol (6.8%) and hexadecanoic acid (5.8%).

The aerial parts of samples from collective populations of T. carnosus were collected during the vegetative phase (February 2000), at the beginning of the flowering phase (May 2000) and during the flowering phase (July 2000) at Quinta do Lago (Algarve). AQLM: collected in May, beginning of flowering phase; AQLJ: collected in July, flowering stage; AQLF: collected in Feb, vegetative stage.

All the oil samples collected in Quinta do Lago (QL) were dominated by borneol (26-31%) and camphene (9-18%), but the third main component varied according to the harvesting period. Bornyl acetate was the third main component (9-13%) in the flower oil and in the aerial parts oils collected in May and July, whereas terpinen-4-ol (8%) was the third main component in oil collected in February from vegetative phase plant material. A fourth main component, alpha-pinene (4-9%), was also present in relative high amounts in the QL oils.

Aerial parts of the plant were collected from four localities: A = Kirklareli: Karadere in May 1991; B = Kirklareli: Karahamza Village in May 1990; C = Kirklareli: Evciler Village on 13 June 1993; D = Kirklareli: Korukoy on 25 May 1994

The four oils obtained from plants collected in different localities of the same region gave quite different compositions as follows: A: thymol (10.5%), 1,8-cineole (9.96%), p-cymene (9.48%), carvacrol (5.28%); B: beta-caryophyllene (29.50%), carvacrol(20.59%); C: thymol (34.7%), beta-caryophyllene (12.74%), carvacrol (5.24%); D: beta-caryophyllene (56.48%), germacrene D (11.12%), carvacrol (4.85%). Since the identities of the plant materials were checked repeatedly, any misidentification is ruled out. Except for A and C, all the other materials showed beta-caryophyllene as the major constituent. Carvacrol (20.59%) was present in good amount in the oil of B. In A, however, high percentages of 1,8-cineole (10%) and p-cymene (9.5%) were significant. This oil contained only a trace amount of beta-caryophyllene. Four isomeric caryophyllene alcohols were detected in the oil B. The results clearly indicate that the oil of T. striatus var. interruptus has no consistency and we can safely suggest that there are at least three chemotypes, namely thymol/1,8-cineole/p-cymene-type; thymol/beta-caryophyllene-type; and beta-caryophyllene-type, of this species.