Differences in essential oil composition of basil (Ocimum basilicum L) Italian cultivars related to morphological characteristics

Ten Italian cultivars of basil were studied to establish a possible relation between morphological characteristics and essential oil composition. The morphological parameters were recorded at the beginning of the flowering stage and the essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Among the cultivars, four phenotypes were distinguished on the basis of leaf size, shape, and color and plant height, weight, branching, and leafing. The composition of essential oils, all characterized by a high content of linalool, included three chemotypes: ''linalool,'' ''linalool and methylchavicol,'' and ''linalool and eugenol''. Two chemotypes each had their own suite of morphological characters, whereas two groups of cultivars, with different morphological parameters belonged to the same chemotype.