Fatty Acid Composition of Juniperus Species (Juniperus Section) Native to Turkey

Abstract

Fatty acid compositions of seeds of five taxa of the Juniperus section of the genus Juniperus L. (Cupressaceae), i.e. J. drupacea Lab.. J. communis L. var. communis, J. communis var. saxatilis Pall., J. oxycedrus L. subsp. oxycedrus, and J. oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa (Sibth. & Sm.) Ball, were investigated. Methyl ester derivatized fatty acids of the lipophylic extracts of the five species were comparatively analyzed by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Juniperus taxa showed uniform fatty acid patterns, among which linoleic (25.8-32.5%), pinolenic (11.9-24.1%) and oleic acids (12.4-17.2%) were determined to be the main fractions in the seed oils. Juniperonic acid was found to be remarkably high in J. cumnunis var. saxatilis (11.4 %), J. oxycedrus subsp. oxycedrus (10.4 %), and J. communis var. communis (10.1 %). To the best of our knowledge, the present work discloses the first report on the fatty acid compositions of seeds of this Juniperus section grown in Turkey.