A special aromatic Chrysanthemum breed with high content of thujone

Background: A cultivar of Chrysanthemum, whose whole plant has strong and special fragrance, was found in Jiugong Mountain area, Xianning City, Hubei Province. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine taxonomic status of the cultivar in genus Dendranthema. Materials and Methods: The differences of morphological characteristics and volatile oil components between this cultivar and Dendranthema indicum, D. indicum var. aromaticum, and Dendranthema molifolium cv. “Jinju” were compared. Results: The cultivar was found to be a Chrysanthemum breed with unisexual flowers. The volatile oil content was 0.25% in its stem and leave of the breed and about 1.81% in its inflorescence which was much higher than that of other 3 species. There are 17 common components among volatile oils in inflorescence of the four Chrysanthemum species, but the thujone content of this cultivar is much higher than other three species. Conclusions: The cultivar is a new, cultivated Chrysanthemum breed, rich in volatile oil and thujone content, and named as Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. cv. “Jiugong Xiangju.”