Essential oils of native and naturalized Lamiaceae species growing in the Patagonia region (Argentina)

This is the first comprehensive study of essential oils of wild aromatic Lamiaceae present in Patagonia, including exotic and native species. The most commonly representatives of this family in Patagonia include one species of the adventitious Origanum vulgare L., three naturalized mints, Mentha rotundifolia L., M. pulegium L. and M. spicata L. and two native species: Clinopodium darwinii (Benth.) Kuntze and Scutellaria nummulariifolia Hook. f. The essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of each of these species collected during 3 years and analyzed by GC-FID-MS. The major components found were menthone (5.4-10.2%) and pulegone (78.3-89.8%) in M. pulegium; piperitenone oxide (75.6-68.7%) in M. rotundifolia; carvone (34.0-70.4%) in M. spicata; sabinene (2.7-5.9%), p-cymene (9.3-36.1%) and linalool (11.3-21.4%) in O. vulgare; pulegone (56.6-72.4%) in Clinopodium darwinii; acetophenone (19.0%) and α-terpineol (9.5%) in Scutellaria nummulariifolia. This is the first report on the chemical composition of the essential oil of S. nummulariifolia.