Ricerc@Sapienza

Teucrium polium L. is a species with ancient ethno-botanical uses for its anti-inflammatory action whichis mainly due to the phenolics content. On the other side, the presence of neo-clerodanes, which exerthepatotoxic action, may explain why in recent years the medicinal uses of this species have drasti-cally diminished. In this paper we report on the isolation of a new natural neo-clerodane diterpenoid,namely 20-O-acetyl-teucrasiatin (2), together with other twelve relevant compounds in the fields ofchemotaxonomy and ethnomedicine. Nevertheless, the total absence of iridoids and in particular of thechemotaxonomic markers of the family and of the genus itself, may reveal an intraspecific variability ofT. polium with different chemotypes which may contain or not iridoids.