Saururaceae. V. Composition of essential oil from foliage of Houttuynia cordata and chemo systematics of Saururaceae.

The chemical composition of the essential oil from the aerial parts of Houttuynia cordata was examined by ir, glc and gc-ms, as a part of the study of the Saururaceae whose members have rich folkloric medicinal history. The analysis indicate that the essential oil from H. cordata is very rich (81.4 percent v/v) in lipid compounds. A comparision of the composition of the essential oils from three members of the Saururaceae, namely Anemopsis californica, Saururus cernuus and H. cordata from a chemosystematic point of view shows that each species investigated hitherto has its own characteristic type essential oil. While from the morphological and anatomical point of view, Saururus seems to represent the least specialized genus, the presently available chemical evidence does not clearly assign such a status to Saururus.