The chemical composition of the essential oil of Calendula suffruticosa subsp. fulgida (Raf.) Guadagno aerial parts growing wild in Sicily (Italy)

Calendula L. is a relatively small genus belonging to the Asteraceae family, distributed in Europe to Western Himalaya, Macaronesia, Mediterranean to Sahara and Arabian Peninsula. Some of its species are largely utilised in the ethnopharmacology of several countries and several documented biological properties have been determined. In the present study, the essential oil composition of Calendula suffruticosa subsp. fulgida (Raf.) Guadagno, collected in Sicily, a plant never previously investigated, has been carried out. The oil was shown to be quite rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (44.5%) with δ-cadinene (15.9%) and viridiflorene (6.3%) as main metabolites. Also, monoterpene hydrocarbons (39.3%) were present in good amount being α-thujene (10.0%) and sabinene (6.9%) the principal metabolites of the class. The comparison with all the essential oils from Calendula taxa studied so far has been carried out.