Volatile components from aerial parts of Centaurea spinosociliata Seenus ssp. cristata (Bartl.) Dostál and Centaurea spinosociliata Seenus ssp. spinosociliata growing wild in Croatia

The paper reports on the volatile components oil from aerial parts of two Asteraceae growingwild in Croatia: Centaurea spinosociliata ssp. cristata (syn. Centaurea cristata Bartl. subsp. rabenhorstiana(Sch.Bip.) Nyman) (CSC) and C. spinosociliata ssp. spinosociliata (CSS). The volatile componentswere obtained by hydrodistillation from selected plants and were determined by the GC-MS system ontwo fused-silica capillary columns of different polarity. The oil content was 0.08 % (CSC) and 0.07 %(CSS) on a dry weight basis. Altogether 73 compounds were identified accounting for 90.8 % (CSC) and92.8 % (CSS) of the total oil, that were characterized mainly by hydrocarbons (37.9 %; 30.4 %), sesquiterpenehydrocarbons (14.1 %; 29.1 %), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (22.2 %; 13.1 %). The major componentsof the samples were heptacosane (11.2 %; 12.6 %), cyclosativene (2.1 %; 6.4 %), caryophylleneoxide (10.2 %; 4.7 %). Monoterpenes, fatty acids and phenolic compounds were absent or present in lowamount in both oils. The chemotaxonomy of the subgenus Acrolophus is briefly discussed.