The volatile constituents isolated from roots and rhizomes of Valeriana wallichii DC. VX jatamansi Jones) were investigated by GC and GC±MS (EI and NICI) analysis. The plant material was obtained from dierent sources, namely from a local market in Kathmandu (Nepal), from plants grown in The Netherlands and in Germany, and from commercially available material from several German importers. The various roots and rhizomes yielded between 0.09 and 1.30% (v/w) essential oil on a dry weight basis. The main constituents of the oils from the plants grown in Europe were an unidenti®ed sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, a-santalene, ar-curcumene and xanthorrhizol.

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Arteinisia annua L. (Asteraceae) is a source of the novel antimalarial drug artemisinin (1), that is active against Plas,nodiui'n parasites, including chioroquine-resistant strains, and effective in the treatment of cerebral malaria (1). For a better understanding of the artemisinin biosynthesis, knowledge of precursor contents and distribution in plant material is important.We developed a GC method, generally applicable on plant material, for the analysis of I and its precursors arteannuic acid (2) and arteannuin B (3) in one run. The method was validated by GC-MS, applied on pure reference standards (as solid probes and in methanolic solution) and extracts of different plant parts. cH3 H3C H2 2 cH3 H30 3The leaves, buds, and small stems contained the highest levels of 1, 2, and 3. Maximal concentrations were found in the buds: 0.29% 1, 0.68% 2, and 0.26% 3, calculated on DW. The main stem only contained minor amounts. In the side roots, 2 and 3 were found in concentrations of 0.017% and 0.006% DW, respectively, while 1 was absent. The main root was devoid of the three sesquiterpenoids.The GC method for the simultaneous determination of I and its precursors will be useful for the selection of highproducing plants, next to the semi-quantitative TLC analysis for artemisiriin (2), and is valuable for plant biotechnological purposes, to monitor the formation of secondary metabulites in in vitro cultured cells or tissues (3).