Chemodiversity studies on Mentha cervina L. populations from Portugal

L. Rodrigues; P. Monteiro; O. Póvoa; G. Teixeira; M. Moldão; A. C. Figueiredo; A. Monteiro

doi:10.1055/s-0028-1084949

Planta Medica, Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chemodiversity studies on Mentha cervina L. populations from Portugal

L Rodrigues ¹, P Monteiro ¹, O Póvoa ², G Teixeira ³, M Moldão ¹, AC Figueiredo ⁴, A Monteiro ¹

¹CBAA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda 1349–017 Lisboa, Portugal
²Escola Superior Agrária de Elvas, Rua de Alcamim n° 19, 7350–903 Elvas, Portugal
³CBA, Botânica Farmacêutica, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Prof. Gama Pinto 1649–003 Lisboa, Portugal
⁴Universidade de Lisboa, FCUL, DBV, IBB, Centro de Biotecnologia Vegetal, C2, Piso 1, Campo Grande, 1749–016 Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

Mentha cervina L. (also known as hart's pennyroyal) is an aromatic plant that is traditionally used in the Alentejo region of Portugal to flavour recipes and for its medicinal properties [1]. Native of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, in Portugal it can be found in river margins, damp and wet places, being representative of the priority habitat Natura 3170 „temporary Mediterranean ponds“ [1]. Due to habitat destruction, excessive harvesting and overgrazing the species has been disappearing from natural settings [2]. Only two studies concerning the oil composition of Mentha cervina were found [3,4], in both, pulegone was reported as the major oil component.

With the aim of using unexploited Portuguese aromatic flora as new sources of essential oils, the chemical composition of the essential oils of several populations of Portuguese M. cervina was analysed to assess its chemical diversity.

Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Pulegone (62–80%), isomenthone (3–18%) and limonene (3–7%) were the main components of M. cervina essential oils. Cluster analysis of the identified essential oil components revealed a major chemical consistency between the twenty populations evaluated.

Acknowledgements: Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Fisheries Development, Agro Program, Project no. 522.

References: 1. Monteiro, A. et al. (2007) Mentha pulegium e Mentha cervina, Os Poejos na boa Cozinha Portuguesa. ISApress. Lisboa.

2. Póvoa, O. et al. (2006) Acta Horticulturae. 723: 91–97.

3. Vidaurreta, A.B. et al. (1992) Bot. Complutensis 17: 79–85.

4. Gonçalves, M.J. et al. (2007) Nat. Prod. Res. 21: 867–871.