## 3 Yield and Chemical Composition of _C. japonica_ EO

Table 1: Yield and major components of _Cryptomeria japonica_ leaf EO from different geographical origins. The results of the HCA are shown in Figure 3, revealing that three groups were also distinguished based on the dendrogram, which is in accordance with the PCA. Alternatively, EO of _C. japonica_ could be classified by the diterpene chemotype of the leaves, which contained ent-kaurene, phyllocladene or ent-sclarene as a main diterpene hydrocarbon or mixtures of these compounds [42]. It is believed that these diterpen chemotypes are mainly genetically controlled [27; 33; 42]. Moreover, [PERSON] et al. [31] had reported that the diterpene chemotype of the leaves has an impact on the biological activity of the EO, i.e., the ent-kaurene chemotype exhibited higher acaricidal activity than the other diterpene hydrocarbon chemotypes (phyllocladene or ent-sclarene), where the difference between ent-kaurene and phyllocladene was a diastereomer with the same planar structure. This study [31] highlights the importance of the stereostructure/stereochemistry of the compounds on their biological activities. In addition, [PERSON] et al. [43] have achieved the same conclusions, regarding sesquiterpenoids from _C. japonica_ extracts. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Principal Components**} \\ \cline{2-4}  & **PC 1** & **PC 2** & **PC 3** \\ \hline \(\alpha\)-Pinene & 0.481 & **0.837** & \(-\)0.182 \\ Sabineine & **0.784** & 0.334 & \(-\)0.238 \\ \(\beta\)-Pinene & \(-\)0.046 & **0.871** & \(-\)0.279 \\ \(\beta\)-Myrcene & **0.750** & 0.579 & \(-\)0.179 \\
3-Carene & **0.641** & \(-\)0.421 & \(-\)0.358 \\ Limonene & **0.694** & 0.577 & \(-\)0.058 \\ \(\gamma\)-Terpinene & **0.816** & 0.098 & \(-\)0.251 \\ \(\alpha\)-Terpineol & **0.893** & 0.005 & \(-\)0.111 \\ Bornryl acetate & **0.619** & 0.132 & \(-\)0.117 \\ Elemol & \(-\)0.126 & \(-\)0.006 & **0.714** \\ \(\alpha\)+\(\beta\) Eudesmol & \(-\)0.277 & \(-\)0.378 & **0.651** \\ \(\gamma\)-Eudesmol & \(-\)0.165 & \(-\)0.240 & **0.767** \\ Ent-kaurene & **-0.539** & \(-\)**0.655** & \(-\)0.174 \\ Phyllocladene & 0.034 & **0.613** & \(-\)0.178 \\ Eigenvalue & 4.56 & 3.44 & 2.00 \\ \% of variance & 46.79 & 16.67 & 10.05 \\ Cumulative \% & 46.79 & 61.45 & 71.50 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Principal components data, based on 14 major compounds of _Cryptomeria japonica_ essential oils. Figure 2: 3D loading plot of principal components PC1, PC2 and PC3 for _Cryptomeria japonica_ essential oil, based on the major constituents (**A**) and 3D score plot of _C. japonica_ essential oil setting by its geographical origin (**B**). Ent-kaurene is a diterpene that, apart from its function in plant defense, is the precursor of gibberellins, which represent an important group of plant hormones involved in various physiological plant processes [44]. Although this diterpene is generally the major component of _C. japonica_ leaf EO in East Asia, the oxygenated sesquiterpenes made up the higher contribution in this EO [12; 45]. However, in \(\alpha\)-pinene chemotype, the major EO fraction is normally composed by monoterpene hydrocarbons [18]. In Azores Archipelago, [PERSON] et al. [32] reported that the _C. japonica_ leaf EO chemotype is \(\alpha\)-pinene type, and regarding diterpene hydrocarbon is an ent-kaurene-phyllocladene type. These authors found that ent-kaurene compound is higher in leaf EO of red heartwood-type than on black-type _C. japonica_ populations [32]. Nevertheless, in our PCA (Figure 2), \(\alpha\)-pinene chemotype was positively associated with phyllocladene but negatively correlated with ent-kaurene. In addition, in China, [PERSON] et al. [46] reported that elemol-rich leaf EO (elemol plus ent-kaurene chemotype) is usually poor in phyllocladene content. Moreover, this last chemotype is associated with high biological activities (see Sections 4 and 5). Concerning the EO yield from _C.