Hyptis marrubioides were collected in March 2003 at the mature vegetative stage from their natural habitat; 20 randomised individual plants at the same age representing the local population were collected as homogenous samples from each locality: (A) Lavras (21° 14′ S/44° 59′ W), at an altitude of 919 m; (B) Tiradentes (21° 6′ S/44° 10 m W), 927 m.

The results were submitted to Principal Component and Cluster analysis which allowed three groups of oils to be distinguished with respect to sampling site and post-harvested process: cluster I (fresh leaves and fresh or dried stems from Lavras site) with high percentage of caryophylla-4(14),8(15)-dien-5beta-ol (16.7%) and eudesma-4(15),7-dien-1beta-ol (12.8%); cluster II (dried leaves and stems from Tiradentes site) with epi-longipinanol (16.2%) rich oil, and cluster III (dried leaves from Lavras) containing a high content of beta-caryophyllene (17.4%) and alpha-copaene (10.1%). Canonical discriminant analysis showed that is possible to accurately predict 100% well-classification in the original clusters using beta-caryophyllene, epi-longipinanol and caryophylla-4(14),8(15)-dien-5beta-ol as predictor variables. The whole or sliced plant materials resulted in similar chemical composition.

Plants from Horto de Plantas Medicinais of Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) were cultivated in the form of a randomized block with six replications in an experimental field at Setor de Horticultura, UFLA, in Lavras city (S 21° 14′, W 44° 59′, 920 m). Samples were collected four times at 3-month intervals from March to December 2004.

There was a significant difference for oil contents in the different seasons. The lowest oil content was obtained in the summer (about 50% inferior to the other seasons). Methyl (E)-cinnamate was obtained as the major compound (86-90%) of the 14 identified components.