Production of essential oils from in vitro cultures of Caryopteris species and comparison of their concentrations with in vivo plants

The chemical composition of hydrodistilled essential oils obtained from aerial parts and roots of selected Caryopteris (‘bluebeard’) species (C. incana, C. mongolica, Caryopteris × clandonensis), as well as the newly established in vitro shoot and adventitious root cultures of the above plants, was analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Essential oil content and composition differed significantly depending on the type of plant material analyzed. Adventitious roots were characterized by the highest essential oil yield, reaching 1.8 % V/DW in Caryopteris × clandonensis. Limonene and cedrol were the main components of the essential oil derived from aerial parts of the intact plants (11.9–16.0 and 10.7–10.9 %, respectively), whereas the volatile fractions of the in vivo roots of all species contained large amounts of 3,5-bis(1,1-dimethyl)-phenol (12.9–26.2 %). 1,8-cineole, absent in the intact plant materials, was the dominating volatile constituent of the essential oils obtained from in vitro shoots (24.8–34.2 %). The volatile oil derived from adventitious root cultures consisted primarily of 1-octen-3-ol (19.7–31.5 %) and medicinally relevant diterpenoids: abietatriene and trans-totarol, which were accumulated in considerable quantities, especially in the adventitious roots of C. clandonensis (21.6 and 29.2 %, respectively).