Diversity of essential oil glands of clary sage (Salvia sclarea L., Lamiaceae)

Abstract

The Lamiaceae is rich in aromatic plant species. Most of these species produce and store essential oils in specialised epidermal oil glands, which are responsible for their specific flavour. Two types of glands producing essential oil and possessing different morphological structure can be found in Salvia sclarea: peltate and capitate glands. The content of single oil glands from different positions on the plant (corolla, calyx and leaf) were sampled using an SPME fibre and analysed by gas chromatography in order to study variability of the essential oil composition. It was found that the composition of terpenoids is quite variable within an individual plant. Capitate oil glands mainly produce three essential oil compounds: the monoterpenes linalool and linalyl acetate, and the diterpene sclareol. Peltate oil glands, however, accumulate noticeable concentrations of sesquiterpenes and an unknown compound (m/z = 354). Furthermore, the oil composition varies within each gland type according to the plant organ. Linalool and linalyl acetate are characteristic substances of flowers, whereas the sesquiterpenes occur in higher proportions in leaves. Even within one gland type on a single leaf, the chemical variability is exceedingly high.

Physiological changes and essential oil composition of clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.) rosette leaves as affected by salinity

“…Indeed, Pichersky et al (2006) mentioned that free volatiles are glycosylated and stored in cell vacuoles to likely increase cellular swelling and thus to contribute to decrease the effect of osmotic stress inherent to salinity. While the oil yield decrease observed at NaCl concentrations of 50 and 75 mM may be explained by salt-induced necrosis observed in leaves, these organs possess two types of glands producing essential oil: peltate and capitate glands which constitute the main sites of essential oil secretion and accumulation in clary sage (Schmiderer et al 2008). The observed necrosis of the extremity of most leaves at 50 mM and particularly at 75 mM NaCl could have led to the degradation of some oil glands of leaves and thus to the decrease in oil yield.…”

Content and composition of essential oil and content of rosmarinic acid in lemon balm and balm genotypes (Melissa officinalis)

“…Hose et al (1997) also showed that the composition in essential oil glands of M. officinalis changes during ontogenesis. This is mentioned for other species (Salvia sclarea L., Satureja hortensis L., Salvia officinalis L.) as well (Grassi et al 2004;Johnson et al 2004;Novak et al 2006;Schmiderer et al 2008).…”

Study of the Chemical Composition of Essential Oils by Gas Chromatography

“…hirtum, polymorphism could be detected, even within one individual plant, between different oil glands of a single leaf (Johnson et al, 2004). However, this kind of polymorphism is not very usual, being the difference in the oil composition between glands usually related to gland age (Grassi et al, 2004;Johnson et al, 2004;Schmiderer et al, 2008). In general, the different growth stages of the plant create variations in the oil composition within the same organ of the plant (Chamorro et al, 2008).…”