Plant characters and essential oil composition of new selections of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.)

Rosmarinus officinalis L. is an aromatic plant which is widely used as an ornamental plant is used in the pharmaceutical and food industries, mainly due to its essential oil content. A lack of detailed characterisation of rosemary cultivars has stimulated this research on the evaluation of 15 selections of the Sardinian germplasm. After a preliminary phase (1996/1997) of identification, description and evaluation of 31 mother plants of the Sardinian territory, selected rosemary clones were planted in a repository located at the Experiment Station of the University of Sassari, in Oristano (Sardinia). In this paper, 15 selections of the repository are characterised in terms of morphological (plant habitus and vigour, leaf size) and phenological characters and of essential oil composition. The 15 selections evaluated in the repository had a high variability for plant habitus (compact, intermediate and upright) and vigour (low, medium and high), leaf size, and plant phenology. For instance, the selection CAG5 is compact, vigorous and blooms several times throughout the year, while ORS3 has an upright shape, medium vigour and blooms once a year. Essential oil content varied from 1.18% (VIG12) to 4.07% (ORS1). In addition, the essential oil composition was quite variable.