Abstract :
Essential oil composition of the aerial parts of wild and cultivated Satureja sahendica Bornm. (an endemic species of Satureja in Iran) have been determined by GC and GC-MS. Variations in oil composition and yield between wild-growing plants and cultivated, has been evaluated. Higher oil yields were observed in plants growing wild (3.3% of dried material) than in cultivated plants (2.92, 2.75, 2.61% in first, second and third cutting). Generally, the oil was characterized by marked levels of thymol, -terpinene and p-cymene. Although the main components of the wild and cultivated oils were similar, quantitative variability was observed among them. Major components in wild plants were thymol (36.1%), p-cymene (25.3%) , -terpinene (21.9%) and carvacrol (1.25%). The amount of these compounds in cultivated plants were 34.7, 24.3 and 24.9% in first cutting; 38.45, 22.95 and 22.81 % in second cutting; 28.31, 24.55 and 29.15% in third cutting, respectively. Carvacrol was also found in cultivated plants less than 1%. Other major components in aerial parts oil of S. sahendica were myrcene (1.3-3.67%), -thujone (0.72-2.27%), -terpinene (0.36-1.11%) and E-caryophyllene (1.72-4.47%). It seems the oil of S. sahendica has a potential use in cough products and antimicrobial-herbal drug combinations because of high amount of thymol, -terpinene and p-cymene.
