Essential oil composition of three Australian endemic species of Darwinia (Myrtaceae)

The essential oils from the aerial parts of three rare Australian endemic species of Darwinia have been extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In D. procera, myrtenyl acetate (6.1-29.6%), alpha-pinene (6.9-25.1%), gamma-terpinene (6.2-13.6%), bicyclogermacrene (5.5-10.8%) and (E)-nerolidol (3.4-9.7%) were the principal components detected. D. fascicularis ssp. fascicularis produced an oil in which (E)-nerolidol (33.0%), alpha-pinene (15.1%) and gamma-terpinene (10.2%) were the principal components. In D. peduncularis the major constituents were alpha-pinene (33.5%), gamma-terpinene (23.1%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.7%).