Chemotaxonomically Important Volatiles of the Genus Anthemis L. – a Detailed GC and GC/MS Analyses of Anthemis segetalis Ten. from Montenegro

Although there are more than two hundred taxa in the pharmacologically important genus Anthemis, essential oil composition is known only for a small number of them. This is the first report on the volatiles of A. segetalis Ten. GC and GC/MS analyses of the essential oil hydrodistilled from A. segetalis aerial parts enabled the identification of 155 constituents, representing 92.4 % of the total oil. Major constituents of the oil were sabinene (19.5%), germacrene D (12.6%), terpinen-4-ol (6.2%) and 1,8-cineole (6.1%). Monoterpenoids (49.9%, especially those of thujane and p-menthane skeletons) and sesquiterpenoids (39.4%, predominantly those of germacrane-, cadinane- and caryophyllane-types) were found to be the most abundant compound classes. The comparison of the essential oil composition of other Anthemis spe-cies with the present one was used as an additional tool for the clarification of infrageneric relationships. The results support the treatment of Anthemis subg. Cota as a separate genus