Chemovarieties of Coridothymus capitatus L. Rchb. Growing in Israel

Wild populations of Coridothymus capitatus growing in Israel and West Bank of Jordan river were found to consist of at least three chemically distinct varieties, differing in the composition of the phenol fraction of the essential oil. These are thymol‐containing, carvacrol‐containing or contain thymol and carvacrol in the ratio of approximately 1:2. The thymol‐containing variety is abundant, while the carvacrol‐containing variety is very rare. The C. capitatus chemovarieties probably only exist in the area studied, because this plant has been extensively studied and is known to contain carvacrol as a main component of its essential oil and is considered to be the most chemically stable species of the genus Thymus. The results of this study led to the conclusion that Origanum oil produced in mandated Palestine during the 1930s and 1940s was distilled not from Coridothymus capitatus, but from Majorana syriaca. The former producer has confirmed this opinion.