Chemical composition, intraspecies variation and seasonal variation in essential oils of Calendula arvensis L.

The essential oil composition of Calendula arvensis was established for the first time using GC and GC/MS. Eighty-five essential oil components were identified, which accounted for 90.3 g/100 g of essential oil. The oil contained a high concentration of sesquiterpenes, of which δ-cadinene and α-cadinol were the main components. The chemical composition of 25 Corsican C. arvensis oils was analyzed to determine intraspecies variation in essential oil composition. A matrix linking essential oil composition to sample location was composed to identify relationships between concentrations of volatile samples and the geographical origins of samples. Two main groups of compounds were identified according to the amount of sesquiterpenic compounds (hydrocarbons and alcohols) and soil characteristics. Seasonal variation (winter vs. spring) in the concentrations of two major compounds during the flowering period was observed.