Composition of the Essential Oil from Daucus carota ssp. carota Growing Wild in Vienna

Wild carrots (Daucus carota L. subsp. carota (L.) Thel., Apiaceae) are widely distributed in Europe and occur on dry meadows, along roadsides and on slopes. They are present throughout the municipal area of Vienna. The present study reports the composition of the essential oil from different plant parts of the wild carrot collected at two locations in the urban area. At one site the plants were collected during two consecutive years. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger type apparatus and were analysed by GC-MS. At harvest time the plants had fully developed fruits and gave oil yields of 0.2, 0.1 - 0.3 and 0.8 - 1.6 % (v/w) for roots, leaves, and fruits, respectively. The root oil was dominated by α-terpinolene (26 and 56 %from one site on two consecutive years) and contained beside α-pinene, β-pinene, and myrcene also the phenylpropanoid myristicin. Leaves had α-pinene and sabinene as main compounds in varying proportions, followed by myrcene and limonene. α-pinene and sabinene dominated also in the fruits, but in one year also an appreciable amount of geranyl-acetate could be recorded. The results show that even in the restricted urban area the essential oil of carrots is highly variable.