Population variability of essential oils of Pinus heldreichii from the Scardo-Pindic mountains Ošljak and Galičica.

The needle-terpene profiles of two natural Pinus heldreichii populations from Mts. Ošljak and Galičica (Scardo-Pindic mountain system) were analyzed. Among the 68 detected compounds, 66 were identified. The dominant constituents were germacrene D (28.7%), limonene (27.1%), and α-pinene (16.2%). β-Caryophyllene (6.9%), β-pinene (5.2%), β-myrcene (2.3%), pimaric acid (2.0%), α-humulene (1.2%), and seven additional components were found to be present in medium-to-high amounts (0.5-10%). Although the general needle-terpene profile of the population from Galičica was similar to those of the populations from Lovćen, Zeletin, Bjelasica, and Zlatibor-Pešter (belonging to the Dinaric Alps), the principle-component analysis (PCA) of seven terpenes (β-myrcene, limonene, β-elemene, β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, δ-cadinene, and germacrene D-4-ol) in 121 tree samples suggested a partial divergence in the needle-terpene profiles between the populations from the Scardo-Pindic mountain system and the Dinaric Alps. According to previously reported data, the P. heldreichii samples from the Balkan-Rhodope mountains lack β-caryophyllene and germacrene D, but contain γ-muurolene in their terpene profile. Differences in the terpene composition between populations growing in the three above-mentioned mountain systems were compared and discussed.