Chemovariations in Hypenia essential oils under infrageneric and phenological influences

The essential oils (EOs) of six Hypenia species that are endemic in the central Brazilian Cerrado were assessed by GC/MS and chemometric analysis. EO variations according to two taxonomic sections, combined with two phenophases (vegetative and reproductive), showed that 23.2% of total variance was explained by such predictors. Variation partitioning showed that the largest pure contribution was attributed to section (43.7%), followed by phenophase (39.3%), with 17% of joint influence. A multivariate regression tree (MRT) indicated that 13 EO constituents may be potential chemomarkers for distinguishing sections and two developmental stages in the genus.