ABSTRACT Spring needles of Abies pinsapo Boiss. contained 84 identifiable volatile compounds. Monoterpene hydrocarbons dominated the essential oil (86.2%), with β‐pinene (34.8%), α‐pinene (24.6%), and limonene+β‐phellandrene (11.9%) as the major constituents. Stepwise discriminant analysis distinguished young needles from 1‐ and 2‐year‐old needles. The average nonacosan‐10‐ol content was 36.9%, with minimal differences among age classes. Needle n ‐alkanes ranged from C 16 to C 33 , dominated by C 29 (19.02%), C 23 (18.89%), C 27 (17.62%), and C 25 (13.01%). The most abundant n ‐alkanes were C 23 in young, C 27 in 1‐year‐old, and C 29 in 2‐year‐old needles. The total Carbon Preference Index of n ‐alkanes ranged from 3.2 to 7.3 (mean 4.6), peaking in young needles (6.0). The total average chain length ranged from 24.7 to 27.2 (mean 26.2). Principal component analysis also separated young needles from older ones.
Nikolić et al. (Fri,) studied this question.