Variations in the volatile constituents of peperomia rotundifolia schlecht. & cham. grown on different host‐trees in guadeloupe

Plants of Peperomia rotundifolia Schlecht. & Cham. were collected in Guadeloupe from seven different host-trees at two periods in the year and extracted with dichloromethane; after steam distillation the volatile constituents were analysed by GC and GC–MS coupling. In all samples, limonene is the most abundant component (18–43%) together with variable amounts of camphor (5–20%); safrole, absent in some extracts, can represent up to 24% of the volatile constituents in others. No correlation has been found between the chemical composition of the volatile oil and the period of gathering or the botanical nature of the host-tree.