Carlos Chaverri and José F. Cicció,*

Abstract: The composition of the essential oil from leaves and twig wood of Ocotea austinii growing wild in Costa Rica was determined by capillary GC/FID and GC/MS. Seventy-six and seventy-seven compounds were identified in the leaf and twig wood oils corresponding to about 99.8% and 98.3% of the total amount of the oils, respectively. The leaf oil consists mainly of terpene hydrocarbons (87.5%) and oxygenated terpenes (11.8%). The major components of the leaf oil were α-pinene (33.2%), β-pinene (13.0%) and δ-cadinene (5.7%). The wood oil also consisted mainly of terpene hydrocarbons (67.4%) and oxygenated terpenes (29.9%). The major components of the wood oil were α-pinene (14.9%), β-pinene (8.2%), β-eudesmol (9.1%), α-eudesmol (8.8%) and viridiflorene (5.0%)

The genus Ocotea (Lauraceae) is widely represented in the American tropics with 300–400 species and it is the largest genus of this family in Mesoamerica with 102 species (1). The Lauraceae is a family of about 2000–2200 species of mostly tropical trees. The family is an important component of cloud forests in Costa Rica where the individuals occur in high abundance and diversity (2,3). This family is recognized by the simple, alternate, stiff and aromatic elliptic to obovate leaves, and by the fruits often borne in a cup. Ocotea austinii C. K. Allen (Syn. Ocotea irazuensis Lundell) is a tree endemic to central Costa Rica. It is popularly known as ira, ira colorado and ira rosa (4). The geographic distribution of the species includes the central volcanic mountain range from Palmira (Province of Alajuela) in the north, throughout the western part of the Talamanca mountain range (near Santa María de Dota and Empalme, Province of San José) (1). Ocotea austinii is a canopy species, and frequently emergent. The greatest abundance of the species is found in the higher montane, wet evergreen forests formations, characterized by the presence of Quercus spp. This tree (O. austinii) grows in well-drained plateaus or flatlands of volcanic origin, with small slopes in an elevation range of 1700 to 3000 m, temperatures between 6°–20°C, and an annual rainfall between 3500 and 8000 mm (5). As happens with other Ocotea species (6) the timber of this tree is excellent for making furniture and general construction.