Paeonia mascula subsp. russoi (biv.) Cullen & Heywood: the chemical composition of the aerial parts essential oils of two different populations collected in Sicily (Italy)

In the present study, the chemical composition of the essential oil from aerial parts of two populations of Paeonia mascula subsp. russoi, collected in Sicily, was evaluated by GC-MS. No previously phytochemical investigation has been reported for this subspecies. The main components of the essential oil of the population with pink flowers were salicylaldehyde (34.31%), nonanal (16.95%) and 2-hexenal (10.17%), whereas essential oil of the population with white flowers, was shown to be rich of myrtanal (14.14%), eugenol (14.02%) and salicylaldehyde (12.21%). Furthermore, a complete literature review, not present in literature, on the composition of the essential oils of all the other taxa of Paeonia, studied so far, was performed. PCA and HCA analyses of the composition of essential oils obtained from the aerial parts were also carried out. {Graphical Abstract}