Chemotaxonomic evaluation of Turkish species of Salvia: Fatty acid compositions of seed oils

Fatty acid composition of nine species of Salvia, naturally growing in Turkey was determined: Salvia syriaca, Salvia potentilli-folia, Salvia candidissima ssp. occidentalis, Salvia macrochlamys, Salvia poculata, Salvia tomentosa, Salvia recognita, Salvia virgata and Salvia ceratophylla. The main compounds were found to be linoleic acid (18:2; 24.3-69.2%), linolenic acid (18:3; 0.6-40.8%), oleic acid (18:1; 8.3-31.0%), palmitic acid (16:0; 3.8-21.0%) and stearic acid (18:0; 1.8-5.2%). Fatty acid composition of Salvia seed oils could be used as a chemotaxonomical marker. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.