Abstract
Litsea cubeba Pers. (LC) is a deciduous bush or small tree mostly distributed in the East Asia region. It is a precious aromatic plant with multiple functions. The purpose of this study is to collect germplasms of LC from different regions of Taiwan. The chemical compositions of essential oils (EOs) extracted from different parts of LC tree will be characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to assess variations of EO compositions of LC collected from different parts of Taiwan. DNA marker techniques will be used to estimate the genetic diversity among populations and individuals of LC. In this (2015) year, 30 LC plants from Shanping (SP), Fengkangshan (FG) and Duona (DN) areas were marked and ISSR PCR amplifications with 12 selected primers were carried out for DNA genetic diversity evaluation. Leaves and fruits of 19 female LC plants from 2 areas (12 from SP, and 7 from FG) and 13 female LC plants from 2 areas (9 from SP, and 4 from FG) were collected in June and July 2014 and 2015, respectively. EOs yield and chemical compositions on LC plants from 2 months (June and July), 2 years (2014 and 2015), and 2 areas (SP and FG) were evaluated. Results indicated that although EOs yields showed significant differences between 2 areas, the dominant component of leaf EOs from 2 areas and 2 months is the same (Eucalyptol 51.21~63.21%). The yield increase of SP LC fruit EOs from June to July is visible (from 4.66±0.06 to 7.57±0.18 in 2014 and 5.54%±0.13 to 7.16±0.07 in LHC). Dominant components of fruit EOs are mainly represented by Citral (Geranial+ Neral, ＞83%) and Limonene (4.93%~10.33%).