Abstract
The essential oil from Thymus pulegioides L., which was obtained from plants collected at different places in the Oslo district
in Norway, consists mainly of metabolites of the terpene phenol biochemical pathway
(75%), namely thymol, carvacrol, γ-terpinene, p-cymene, methylthymol, and methylcarvacrol. Additionally some other common monoterpenoids,
and the sesquiterpenoids β-caryophyllene, germacrene D, and β-bisabolene could be
detected. Concerning the chemical variation of this species, two chemotypes, a carvacrol
type (three quaters of the plants) and a thymol type (one quater of the plants) could
be found growing side by side. In comparison to T. praecox ssp. arcticus, T. pulegioides shows a remarkably lower genetic variation.
