Comparative Study of Oxalis L. Species Growing Wild in Egypt: GC-MS Analysis and Chemosystematic Significance

Five Oxalis L. plants belonging to three different sections were collected and subjected to GC-MS analysis to evaluate and understand the relationship between them from the chemosystematic point of view. The GC-MS analysis revealed the identification and characterization of thirty seven compounds belonging to different non-polar chemical classes of which nine compounds (two aliphatic hydrocarbons, one diterpene, one fatty acid, four fatty acid esters and one fatty alcohol) were identified before from the genus while, the rest compounds were identified for the first time. The GC-MS results were chemosystematically significant among Oxalis species and were found to be a good parameter in finding a tangible demarcation between O. corniculata and O. corniculata var. repens, on the other hand it is difficult to differentiate between Oxalis sections by the obtained data.