Essential oils from four Ocotea species collected in southern Brazil were evaluated for chemical composition using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The primary compound identified in O. acutifolia essential oil was an unsaturated tetracyclic diterpene, phyllocladene (67.7%), followed by a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, β-selinene (18.0%). The sesquiterpene fraction was predominant in oils from two collections of O. puberula; β-caryophyllene (25.2%) and globulol (22.6%) were the major compounds identified in collections 1 and 2, respectively. O. silvestris essential oil contained predominantly germacrene D and bicyclogermacrene. These compounds were also predominant in essential oil from O. indecora leaves collected from shady habitats. By contrast, essential oil extracted from O. indecora grown under direct sunlight contained mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes, such as guaiol (30.2%), α-eudesmol (27.6%), and β-eudesmol (12.7%). Chemotaxis assays showed that Ocotea essential oils had no significant inhibitory activity on leukocyte migration compared with a chemotactic stimulant (lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli). However, the oils exhibited antifungal activity against Candida parapsilosis, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 500 µg/mL. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the in vitro antifungal and antichemotactic activities of essential oils from Ocotea species native to southern Brazil.

Phytochemical investigations on three Brazilian Lauraceae species from the Cerrado region of São Paulo State, Ocotea corymbosa (Meins) Mez., O. elegans Mez. and Persea pyrifolia Nees & Mart. ex Nees resulted in the isolation of flavonoids, an ester of the 4-O-E-caffeoylquinic acid, an aromatic sesquiterpene besides furofuran lignans. This is the first chemical study on the leaves of Ocotea elegans and O. corymbosa as well as the first report of non-volatile compounds from Persea pyrifolia.

During the last decades several aporphinoid alkaloids of the Ocotea species have been isolated. This review describes the occurrence of the fifty four aporphinoids in seventeen different species of Ocotea: thirty nine (39) aporphine sensu stricto, four (4) oxoaporphine, five (5) 6a,7-dehydroaporphine, one (1) didehydroaporphine, one (1) C-3-O-aporphine, one (1) C-4-O-aporphine, two (2) phenanthrene, one (1) proaporphine and their 13C NMR spectral data.

Immature stages of Memphis moruus stheno (Prittwittz) were subject of a behavior, biological and morphological study. The morphological study was carried out through observation by stereoscopic microscopy with camera lucida and micrometric lens attached for illustrations and measurements, respectively; and scanning electron microscopy for ultrastructural analysis. Behavioral data were obtained through direct observation in the field and laboratory. Eggs were laid on the underside of leaves of two Lauraceae species. The first to third instars build frass chains, the fourth and the fifth instars build a conical shelter using a single leaf of the host plant. Before pupation, larvae bend its body ventrally and the pupae are incapable of movement. Descriptions, illustrations and photographs of egg, all five instars and pupa are given. The cephalic morphology and chaetotaxy of first instar were described and illustrated. Results are compared with other Charaxinae immature stages.

Ocotea duckei Vattimo, popularly known as “louro-de-cheiro”, “louro-pimenta”, and “louro-canela”  is a member of the Lauraceae family found in the Northeast region of Brazil. It is popularly used to treat neuralgia, dyspepsia, anorexia and pain. This current study aimed to promote the isolation and the identification / determination of new secondary metabolites of the species O. duckei Vattimo. In order to obtain the vegetable drug of O. duckei, its stem barks were harvested and submitted to a drying process followed by pulverization. The Crude Ethanolic Extract (BSE), obtained from the vegetable drug, was then subjected to an alkaloid extraction protocol in order to generate its Total Alkaloid Fraction (TAF). The isolation and identification of chemical compounds were carried out by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods respectively. The chemical investigation of O. duckei resulted in the isolation of three compounds: Ocoteaduccin A (OD-1, 0.020 g), Ocoteaduccin B (OD-2, 0.015 g), and N-methylcoclaurine (OD-3, 0.008 g). O. duckei proved to be a promising species, due to the variety of isolated chemical compounds. Further chemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies must be conducted in order to improve the phytochemical knowledge about this plant.

São descritas e ilustradas duas novas espécies de Ocotea Aublet: Ocotea cryptocarpa e Ocotea curucutuensis. As novas espécies ocorrem respectivamente nos Estados do Espírito Santo (município de Santa Tereza) e São Paulo (município de São Paulo), Brasil.

Uma nova espécie, Ocotea revolutifolia A. Quinet, e um novo nome, O. mandioccana A. Quinet, baseada em Persea riedelii Meisn., são propostas para o Brasil. São apresentadas descrições, ilustração, comentários sobre relações taxonômicas, status de conservação e distribuição geográfica das espécies.

ABSTRACT Three new species of Ocotea - O. calliscypha L. C. S. Assis & Mello-Silva, from the state of Minas Gerais, O. ciliata L. C. S. Assis & Mello-Silva, from the state of Espírito Santo, and O. marcescens L. C. S. Assis & Mello-Silva, from the states of Bahia, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro - are described. The species are illustrated, and comments on their relationships to other species of Ocotea, distribution, habitat, and phenology are provided.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo taxonômico das espécies de Ocotea (Aubl.) no estado do Paraná, Sul do Brasil. São fornecidos chave de identificação, descrições, ilustrações e comentários, que incluem distribuição geográfica, habitat, estado de conservação e época de floração e frutificação. O estudo confirmou 31 espécies de Ocotea no estado do Paraná. A Floresta Atlântica tem o maior número de espécies (26) sendo onze endêmicas, seguida pela Floresta com Araucária (14) com uma endêmica, Floresta Estacional (11), Cerrado (7) com duas endêmicas e Campos (1). Duas espécies correm risco de extinção local. Ocotea daphnifolia (Meisn.) Mez e Ocotea velutina (Nees) Rohwer são citadas pela primeira vez no Paraná.

Resumo Uma nova espécie de Lauraceae é descrita para a região sudeste do Brasil, estado de São Paulo, município de Pindamonhangaba. Ocotea mantiqueirae enquadra-se no complexo "Ocotea floribunda" de Rohwer (1986), mas difere por detalhes não descritos nas espécies com flores pistiladas desse complexo, especialmente gineceu e ovário glabros; abscisão de parte do receptáculo, toda extensão das tépalas e os verticilos de estaminódios após a fecundação; cúpula de margem simples e engrossada, sem remanescentes das tépalas, caracteristicamente canelada-lamelada em toda a sua extensão por longas lenticelas e; fruto globoso de dimensões muito maiores. Até o momento a espécie é endêmica e restrita à Floresta Ombrófila Densa Alto Montana da Serra da Mantiqueira no estado de São Paulo.