Chemical Composition of the Essential Oils of the Flowers, Leaves and Stems of Two Senecio polyanthemoides Sch. Bip. Samples from South Africa

Abstract: The essential oils of the flowers, leaves and stems of Senecio polyanthemoides Sch. Bip. Samples collected from two different localities within the city of uMhlathuze, KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa) were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed using GC and GC/MS. Twenty-six constituents were identified, representing an average of 86.0 - 99.6% of the total oil composition. The chemical profile reveals the dominance of monoterpenoid compounds, although some quantitative variance was noticed. The main constituents of the oils were limonene (3.1 – 43.0%), p-cymene (4.9-36.3%), β-selinene (1.3-32.7%), α-pinene (1.8-21.4%), β-pinene (7.6-16.5%) and 1,8-cineole (9.3-11.4%), caryophyllene oxide (4.1-13.4%) and humulene epoxide II (8.6-10.3%).