ESSENTIAL OIL OF ANEMIA TOMENTOSA VAR. ANTHRISCIFOLIA 541 Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2004; 19: 541–543 FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL Flavour Fragr. J. 2004; 19: 541–543 Published online 26 May 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/ffj.1341 The essential oil of Anemia tomentosa (Savigny) Sw. var. anthriscifolia (Schrad.) Mickel Hector R Juliani, 1 Julio A Zygadlo, 2 Raquel Scrivanti, 2 Elias de la Sota 3 and James E Simon 1 * 1 New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA 2 Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV–CONICET), Cátedra de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina 3 Facultad Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina Received 20 November 2003; Revised 19 June 2003; Accepted 3 September 2003 ABSTRACT: The essential oil composition of the aerial parts of Anemia tomentosa var. anthriscifolia (Anemiaceae) was characterized by GC–MS. Total volatile oil yield extracted by steam distillation was 0.2% dry weight basis. The volatile oil was composed mainly of sesquiterpenes (75%, as the relative percentage of the total essential oil) with lower amounts of monoterpenes (15%); no phenylpropanoids were detected. The sesquiterpenes were composed mainly of oxygenated components (67%), including α α α -bisabolol (51%), spathulenol (1%), caryophyllene oxide (3%), α α α-bisaboloxide (1%) and 14-hydroxy-9-epi-(E)-caryophyllene (1%). The monoterpenes were dominated by neral (5%) and geranial (7%), with lower amounts of α α α -pinene, camphene, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, 1,8-cineole and pinocarveol. This is the first report of the es- sential oil accumulation (0.2%) and volatile composition in the aromatic fern A. tomentosa. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS: Anemia tomentosa; Anemiaceae; pteridophytes; doradilla; essential oil; fern; medicinal plant; sesquiterpenes; α-bisabolol * Correspondence to: J. E. Simon, New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Bruns- wick, NJ 08901, USA. E-mail: jesimon@aesop.rutgers.edu Contract/grant sponsor: New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, USA. Contract/grant sponsor: Cook College, USA. Contract/grant sponsor: CONICET, Argentina. Introduction Pteridophytes, ferns and fern allies, are one of the oldest groups of land plants. 1 Since ancient times there has been strong interest in the application of ferns for their tradi- tional medicinal properties 2–4 and in Central American countries ferns are traded in the local markets for medici- nal uses. 5 While the chemical composition of primary and secondary metabolites in ferns have been examined, 6–8 few reports have characterized the volatile components from aromatic ferns. 9 The genus Anemia Sw. (Anemiaceae) contains over 100 species of aromatic ferns that are utilized in popular medicine, 10 with the great majority found in the warmer and drier regions of America from Texas to Argentina. 11 Within A. tomentosa, four wild varieties have been recognized, 12 of which three are found naturally growing in Argentina and are collectively known as ‘doradilla’ by local people. A. tomentosa var. anthrascifolia is the main variety, showing the widest distribution, growing in dif- ferent environments from sea level to 1500 m and thus showing the greatest variability. In South America, the ferns grow mainly in hilly regions of north-eastern and central Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. In Argentina, this fern is found in the provinces of Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero and Córdoba. 13 The fronds of the fern, up to 33 cm long with the fertile pair of basal pinnae longer than the blade, 14 are utilized as crude drugs in the form of an infusion against menstrual complaints and menstrual cycle control. In Argentina, the aerial dried parts of this fern are com- mercialized by at least three companies that collect them exclusively from the wild. The constituents in essential oils of aromatic plants have been shown to have biological activity and could be responsible at least in part for the plant’s use in tradi- tional medicine. 15,16 As a part of our ongoing work on aromatic plants from Argentina 17 and since information about secondary metabolites in the genus Anemia, and specifically of A. tomentosa var. anthriscifolia, is scarce, we initiated this study to characterize the essential oil content and composition of this aromatic fern. Materials and Methods Ferns were collected in Cuesta de Altautina (lat. 31°42′30″, long. W65°15′40″, 960 m above sea level), San Javier Department, Córdoba province, Argentina. A voucher specimen was deposited in the Herbario Museo