Chemical Composition of the Essential Oils and the Odor ofThymus pulegioidesL. Growing Wild in Vilnius

Abstract Thymus pulegioides L. ssp pulegioides samples were collected in 1995–1999 in Vilnius city according to their odors. Five chemotypes of the essential oils were identified: 1) citral/geraniol chemotype ("lemon" odor): citral (neral + geranial, 18.4–30.2%), geraniol (14.4–23.2%), β-caryophyllene (9.4–13.1%) and nerol (5.5–12.1%); 2) geraniol chemotype ("sweet" odor): geraniol (23.1–25.5%), β-caryophyllene (10.8–13.5%) and β-bisabolene (9.5–10.2%); 3) caryophyllene chemotype ("spicy" odor): β-caryophyllene (18.0–19.7%), β-bisabolene (14.5–15.9%), germacrene D (12.5–14.6%) and (E)-nerolidol (8.2–13.8%); 4) γ-terpinene/p-cymene chemotype ("hydrocarbon" odor): γ-terpinene (15.5–17.2%), p-cymene (7.7–17.0%), carvacrol (4.6–13.5%) and β-caryophyllene (9.6–10.5%); 5) carvacrol chemotype ("phenolic" odor): carvacrol (24.4–33.3%), β-caryophyllene (9.5–14.9%) and β-bisabolene (10.5–12.9%). The caryophyllene and γ-terpinene/p-cymene chemotypes were not observed earlier in Thymus pulegioides L. Key Word Index: Thymus pulegioides Labiataeessential oil compositionp-cymeneγ-terpineneneralgeraniolgeranialβ-caryophylleneβ-bisabolene