Composition of young and aged shoot essential oils of the wild Ledum palustre L ; Jaunų ir brandžių laukinio Ledum palustre L. šakelių eterinių aliejų sudėtis

Wild Ledum palustre L. plants were collected near Juodupe (Rokiskis region) and Silenai (Vilnius region) villages. Essential oils from young and aged shoots, obtained by hydrodistillation, were analysed using GC and GC/MS. The major constituents were palustrol (31.4-42.8%), ledol (23.6-30.8%), cyclocolorenones (4.0-9.3%), myrcene (1.2-8.6%) and limonene (11.0%). The essential oil from plants growing near Silenai village differed from that of L. palustre near juodupe by a higher content of compounds with the menthane carbon skeleton (10.9-18.0% and <= 1.2%, respectively) and by the content of limonene (3.7-11.0% and not detected, respectively). All essential oils included furyl containing monoterpenoids. Young shoots biosynthesized 3-4 times larger amounts of essential oils and contained larger quantities of terpenoids than did aged shoots. The content of palustrol in the essential oils of aged shoots was higher than of young ones. The dependence of ledol quantities on the age of shoots was opposite in the localities under study. The sixty nine identified compounds comprised 98.0-99.4% of L. palustre essential oils.