Abstract
To elucidate the variation of essential oli components in the rhizomes of Atractylodes lancea growing in China we used nine clones of the species, which were propagated by division of the rhizomes, and characterized them by means of GC analyses of the six essential oil components. The seasonal changes in the components were also investigated for 3 years using one of the clones. These clones contained β-eudesmol (4) and hinesol (3) as the main components and the values of the correlation coefficients between 4 and 3 were more than 0.9 in every clone. Although the amount of each component varied in a clone, the value of the content ratio between the components was constant during growth of the plants for 3 years and each clone had a different ratio value. These results indicated that the biosynthetic ratio could be genetically determined. Implications of the variation in the components of this species in its native habitat were also discussed.
