In our continuing research on the essential oils of Thymus species (Tzakou et al. 1998, Tzakou and Constantinidis 1998, Tzakou and Constantinidis 1999) we have investigated the essential oil of Thymus atticus Čelak.

Thymus atticus, a member of Th. section Hyphodromi (Morales 1997), is predominately a lowland species that occasionally extends to c. 1800 m (Baden 1991). It occurs in the E. half of the Balkan Peninsula and N.W. Turkey.

Wild growing plants of Th. atticus were collected from Mt. Parnassos in different growing stages (12.1997, 6.1998). The essential oils were obtained from the air-dried aerial parts and analysed by GC and GC-MS. The identification of the chemical constituents was based on comparisons of their relative retention times and mass spectra with those obtained from authentic samples and/or libraries spectra.

Eighty-two components were identified from the oils of Th. atticus representing 97.49% and 95.80% of the total oil. The Th. atticus oils contained high quantities of monoterpene hydrocarbons (41.0%, 33.1%) and monoterpenic alcohols (28.8%, 32.8%). The qualitative essential oil composition of the different samples is similar. There are however, quantitative differences. The highest fluctuations have been found in the amount of the following compounds: o-cymene (6.31%, 0%), 1,8 cineole (4.65%, 11.04%) and carvacrol (7.08%, 0.22%). The main constituents of the winter sample were myrcene (11.01%), alpha-pinene (9.17%) and carvacrol (7.08%). In the summer harvested sample the major components were 1,8-cineole (11.04%), caryophyllene oxide (8.58%) and alpha-pinene (7.19%).

References

1. Tzakou O., Verykokidou E., Roussis V., and Chinou I. (1998): Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Properties of Thymus longicaulis subsp. chaubardii Oils: Three Chemotypes in the Same Population. J. Essent. Oil Res., 10, p. 97-99.
2. Tzakou O. and Constantinidis Th. (1998): Essential oil of Thymus parnassiccus Halacsy" 46^th Annual Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plant Research, August 31^st-September 4^th, 1998, Vienna, Austria.
3. Tzakou O. and Constantinidis Th. (1999): Karyological study and Essential Oil Analysis of Thymus teucrioides subsp. candilicus. Joint Meeting of the ASP, AFERP, GA and PSE, July 26-30, 1999, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
4. Baden C. (1991): Thymus L., pp. 139-165. In: Strid A. & Tan K. (eds.), Mountain Flora of Greece, vol.2. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.