Chemical Composition of the Essential Oils from the Leaves and Flowers of Two Achillea species from Iran.

The aerial parts of wildAchillea wilhelmsiiC. Koch andA. kellalensisBoiss. & Hausskn. (Asteraceae family) were collected from Southwestern Iran provinces. The essential oils obtained by steam distillation from fine powder of the leaves and flowers of the twoAchilleaspecies have been analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The oil yield varied of 0.23 to 0.68% dry matter. The variations in chemical compositions from the flowers and leaves are important between plant populations. A total of 46 constituents were identified. The major constituents of the essential oils ofA. wilhelmsiicollected from the Ben and Natanz regions were lavandulyl acetate (t 26.2%), chrysanthenone (t 18.3%), 1,8-cineole (5.5 17.2%), linalool (0.8 16.1%), camphor (0.5 16.6%), borneol (t 6.5%), α-pinene (2.7 6.5%) and lavandulol (t 6.0%), while the essential oils ofA. kellalensisfrom the Kallar region were chamazulene (49.0 52.6%), α-bisabolol (20.5 -25.1%), β-myrcene (2.8 3.7%), and αpinene (1.6 4.5%). Although, the essential oils from the flowers and leaves ofA. kellalensiswere characterized by high level of oxygenated sesquiterpenes, those ofA. wilhelmsiiwere characterized by high level of oxygenated monoterpenes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]