Essential oil variability in Baccharis uncinella DC and Baccharis dracunculifolia DC growing wild in southern Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay

Abstract

Essential oils of Baccharis uncinella DC and B. dracunculifolia DC collected from different wild populations growing in Bolivia, southern Brazil and Uruguay were analysed using gas chromatography and gas chromatographymass spectrometry techniques, to check for chemical variability. Cluster analysis led to the identi¼cation of two chemotypes for B. dracunculifolia, related to aromadendrane-or cadinane-derived components. As the timing of sampling of the plant material may have an in½uence on the composition of the essential oil isolated, the seasonal in½uence at the moment of harvesting was studied for two populations of each species. The results suggested that the ½owering season was optimal both species and this supported the practice of harvesting at the full bloom stage.

Sedative effects of essential oils obtained fromBaccharis uncinella

“…It has been documented that EOs from aerial parts of B. uncinella obtained from Santa Catarina highlands (Ascari et al, 2009) and the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Agostini et al, 2005;Frizzo et al, 2001Frizzo et al, , 2008 contain 3-60% of monoterpenes. The volatile metabolites in Baccharis are likely to be influenced by ecological and geographical factors as luminosity (Silva et al, 2006), rainfall regime (Ferracini et al, 1995), ground mineral content (Silva et al, 2007) and/or interaction with insects and predators (Damasceno et al, 2010), and the occurrence of chemotypes based on sesquiterpenes has been also reported (Frizzo et al, 2008).…”

“…The volatile metabolites in Baccharis are likely to be influenced by ecological and geographical factors as luminosity (Silva et al, 2006), rainfall regime (Ferracini et al, 1995), ground mineral content (Silva et al, 2007) and/or interaction with insects and predators (Damasceno et al, 2010), and the occurrence of chemotypes based on sesquiterpenes has been also reported (Frizzo et al, 2008). It is therefore arguable that the distinct composition of BU-SC and BU-PR are related to ecological or genetics factors; it is to be expected that the differences observed in these samples CNS activities are consequent to these differences in composition.…”

Chemical composition similarity between the essential oils isolated from male and female specimens of each five Baccharis species

“…Exception must be made to trans-b-guaiene, that was found here for the first time as a main component (7.9-6.1%) in essential oils from this species. 4,7,18,19,31,32,41,42 Baccharis dracunculifolia blossoms between January and April, a period of intense rainfall in the region where the plant material has been collected. However, the year of 2006 was one of the driest years in that region, with rainfall precipitations below the monthly average of six years before, and the plant material was collected on a sunny afternoon, after several days without rain, at the end of the drought period.…”

“…1,2 On the other hand, the available data show that about 52 species from the Baccharis genus have been characterized on the basis of the chemical composition of their essential oils. The seasonal variability of the chemical composition of essential oils from some Baccharis species cultivated or growing in natura has already been reported, and it is widely accepted that ecological and geographical factors, such as luminosity, 3 rainfall regimes, 4 mineral content in the soil, 5 interaction with insects and predators, 6 and location and altitude, 7 exert influence on the content of volatile metabolites in plants of this genus. In addition, the extraction method used to obtain the essential oil may affect its chemical composition.…”

Essential oils of Baccharis trinervis (Asteraceae) from Costa Rica

“…(Simões-Pires et al, 2005), B. dracunculifolia DC. (Frizzo et al, 2008;Fabiane, Ferronatto, dos Santos, & Onofre, 2008), B. erioclada DC. (Ferracini et al, 1995), B. platipoda DC.…”