Essential oil composition of wild growing Apiaceae from Europe and the Mediterranean.

In this overview, the essential oil composition of more than 150 species from about 50 genera of the Apiaceae is reviewed. Essential oil components encountered in Apiaceae proved to be very diverse; they include monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, rarely diterpenes, phenylpropanoids, phthalides, octanol and octyl esters, trimethylbenzaldehydes and aliphatic aldehydes. In assessing the data one has to keep in mind that the essential oil amount and composition is influenced by many factors, including geographic and genetic variation, physiological aspects and environmental conditions. In some species the occurrence of chemotypes could be demonstrated, but in many cases the data available do not allow the evaluation of infraspecific variability.