2. Materials and Methods
2.1 Plant Material
Flowers of A. julibrissin were collected in July, 2012, from several treelets growing wild in
Huntsville, Alabama (3443N, 8639W, 196 m elevation), and stored at 20 C. The flowers
(29.5 g) were hydrodistilled using a Likens-Nickerson apparatus to give a clear colorless
essential oil (18.2 mg).
2.2 Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry
The floral essential oil of A. julibrissin was analyzed by GC-MS using an Agilent 6890 GC
with Agilent 5973 mass selective detector, an HP-5ms fused silica capillary column, and an
Agilent ChemStation data system as described previously[8]. Identification of the oil
components was based on their retention indices (RI) and by comparison of their mass spectral
fragmentation patterns with those reported in the literature[9]. The A. julibrissin floral essential
oil composition is summarized in Table 1.