Chemosystematic studies in the genus Abies. I. Leaf and twig oil analysis of alpine and balsam firs

Abstract

The volatile oils of the leaves and twigs of alpine fir, and western and eastern Canadian balsam fir were analyzed by gas–liquid chromatography. Many qualitative similarities were found and the within-tree and tree-to-tree variation of the quantitative terpene composition of the leaf oil was sufficiently small to permit a chemosystematic study. Abies lasiocarpa and A. balsamea may be differentiated by the relative amounts of β-pinene, 3-carene, β-phellandrene, trans-ocimene, piperitone, methyl thymol, and thymol. Consistent quantitative differences were also found between eastern and western A. balsamea, and the populations in the Lesser Slave Lake and Battle Lake regions of central Alberta gave intermediate terpene data, which suggests introgression between A. lasiocarpa and western A. balsamea. Thus a cline between A. lasiocarpa and A. balsamea, with western balsam fir populations as bridge, may have existed after the last glaciation. The alpine fir populations of southern Alberta, and eastern and central British Columbia gave uniform terpene data, but five trees sampled on Green Mountain, Vancouver Island, gave significantly different terpene data. These results were substantiated by morphological characters as well as twig oil analysis, but the latter two methods gave less consistent data than leaf oil analysis.

Extraction Method for the Isolation of Terpenes from Plant Tissue and Subsequent Determination by Gas Chromatography

“…A few higher molecular weight compounds, including at least three sesquiterpenes, were also detected. In general, the terpene compositions of Fraser and balsam fir foliage were similar, with good correlation compared to GC analyses of balsam leaf oils obtained by steam distillation (2,3,12,13).…”

Composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of seven essential oils from the North American boreal forest

“…The forest operation activities leave important quantities of foliage which should be transformed and valorized according to the concept of responsible and sustainable forest management. The extraction of essential oils ( ) and Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum L.) represents, particularly in eastern Canada, one of the main modes of foliar valorization, and therefore, there are abundant data in the literature on the EOs from these species (Risi and Brûlé 1945;Shaw 1953;von Rudloff 1961von Rudloff , 1967von Rudloff , 1972Hunt and von Rudloff 1974;von Rudloff and Granat 1982;Simard et al 1988;Hachey et al 1989;Belleau and Collin 1993). These studies reported very instructive information on the composition of these oils as they depend on various parameters such as extraction procedure, extraction season, tree age, intraspecific and interspecific aspects of the trees, etc.…”

The leaf oil terpene composition of incense cedar and coast redwood

“…Whereas the recovery of volatile oil from coast redwood leaves was complete (0.4-0.7%, based on fresh weight), that of the incense cedar was incomplete and distillation was continued for a further 18 h (yield 0.6-0.9%). The relative percentages of the lndlvidual components were determined by analysis on four different packed gc columns (Apiezon-L, PEG 20M-OV 17, PEG 20M-QFI, and EGPN (17,18); helium as carrier gas, TCD) (17)(18)(19). Aliquots (1 pL) of the leaf oils in ether (1.20 vlv) were analyzed by gc-ms on a deactivated 30 m S P 2 100 glass capillary column (J + W Scientific) (l:30 spllt ratio, helium as carrier gas) on a Finnigan model 4000 quadropole gc -mass spectrometer (2), temperature-programming from 55°C (held for 6 mln after injection) to 220°C (held for 15 min) at 3"lmin.…”