Essential oil composition of Erica spiculifolia Salisb - first report.

The essential oil isolated from Erica spiculifolia Salisb. by hydrodistillation was analysed by GC-MS. One hundred compounds representing 92.6% of total oil were identified. Among the detected compounds 38 were monoterpenoids (46.2%), 30 were sesquiterpenoids (31.7%), 2 diterpene (0.4%) and 30 compounds (14.3%) were with various non-terpenoid structures. Oxygenated monoerpenes were by far the main class (45.3%) with α-terpineol (7.5%) endo-borneol (7.2%), pinocarveol (5.9%) and thymol (3.7%) as the major compounds. The predominant components of sesquiterpenes were caryophyllene oxide (5.0%), caryophyllene (4.2%), τ -murrolol (3.5%), spathulenol (2.9) and α-cadinol (2.3%).