Chemotaxonomic value of essential oil components in liverwort species. A review

A number of liverwort species are known to emit volatile terpenoids and simple aromatic compounds when crushed. The characteristic odour of these spore-forming plants is associated with oil body constituents. Secondary metabolites, which constitute the oil bodies, are also of value for taxonomic investigations. Liverworts have yielded a rich array of secondary metabolites. Many of these compounds are characterized by unique structures, and some of them have not been found in any other plants, fungi, or marine organisms. Gas chromatographic profiling of the volatile extracts obtained from the liverworts has been applied with success in differentiating liverworts species, and also used to resolve the taxonomic problems at genus and family level. Due to the fact that liverworts are morphologically very small and it is difficult to collect a sufficient amount of plant material, there are few research data on the composition of the essential oils obtained from these plants. Nevertheless, the available data indicate that, as in the case of aromatic plants, the components present in essential oils obtained from the liverworts can be used in chemosystematic studies of this plant group. The aim of this paper is to show whether: (i) there are differences in the essential oils composition between different liverwort species; (ii) it is possible to find chemical markers characteristic for the analysed liverwort species; and (iii) the data derived from an analysis of the essential oils are in accordance with the data received from volatile extracts. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.