LAUSR

Abstract The traditional approach to extract the essential oils from precious-wood (Aniba canelilla), implies in obtaining it from the bark of the trunk of adult trees, usually resulting on the dead of the tree. In order to investigate the effect of seasonality, pruning and leaf development stages, essential oils from leaves and branches were obtained and the chemical composition analyzed by GC-FID and GC–MS. Multivariate analysis, PCA and HCA, allowed the distinction of three different types of essential oils from leaves and branches, with different chromatographic profiles. In general, 1-nitro-2-phenylethane contents were significantly higher in branches and have lower internal variation of this constituent than in leaves. The multivariate analysis also allowed the observation that seasonality and the stage of development did not influence the chemical composition of essential oils, as leaves and twigs were collected in different seasons, at different stages of development in the same area, are in a same group of similar chemical compositions, particularly characterized by the predominance of 1-nitro-2-phenylethane. Although variable, the levels of 1-nitro-2-phenylethane in leaves and twigs are comparable to the levels of 1-nitro-2-phenylethane observed in the stem wood and bark of A. canelilla. Thus, the extraction of essential oil of its leaves and branches may be an alternative way to prevent the overthrow of the trunk to produce essential oils of the specie.