Essential oil composition of two Scutellaria from Tokat province of Turkey

The genus Scutellaria L. (Lamiaceae) is represented in Turkey by 16 species, 1 natural hybrid, 38 taxa, 16 being endemic in Turkey (1,2). Hydrodistilled essential oils of the aerial parts of Scutellaria altissima L. and Scutellaria orientalis L. subsp. pinnatifida Edmondson were analyzed by GC and GC-MS systems in a simultaneous manner. The oil of S. altissima contained β-caryophyllene (34.7 %), caryophyll-5-en-12-al (14.4%), linalool (14.3%) and hexadecanoic acid (7.1%) as main constituents. The oil of S. orientalis L. subsp. pinnatifida was characterized by the occurrence of germacrene D (56.9%), β-caryophyllene (10.5%) and bicyclogermacrene (10.1%) as major components. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the GC and GC/MS determination of the essential oil composition of the S. altissima and S. orientalis subsp. pinnatifida species studied.