Essential oils from fruits of three types of Thapsia villosa.

Thapsia villosa has been divided into five types and previous analyses of the essential oils from the fruits of two of these types showed that limonene and methyl eugenol were the major constituents. The composition of the essential oils from the fruits of the other three types of T. villosa, with the chromosome numbers 2n = 22 (2x), 2n = 22 (2x) and 2n = 44 (4x), is reported here. The oil from all three types shows a similar chemical profile, with geranyl acetate as the main constituent accounting for 78-92% of the total oil. The composition of the essential oils from these plants is clearly different from the first two types of T. villosa mentioned, and also from the other species within the genus Thapsia.