Abstract

Essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson var. chlorodictya Rech. f. collected from two different locations in Iran and three populations of Ziziphora clinopodiodes Lam. were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). 98.47 and 96.99% of  total oils in M. longifolia were identified. Cis-piperitone oxide (36.4 and 40.5%), piperitenone oxide (22.5 and 37.3%) and caryophyllene oxide (13.65 and 7.43%) were found as the major components. In Z. clinopodiodes, 99.81, 98.23, and 97.63% of the oils were identified of which P-mentha-3-en-8-ol (7.00, 24.71, and 12.41%), menthol (12.09, 4.24, and 14.54%), pulegone (7.29, 11.44, and 3.90%), piperitone (11.50, 6.53, and 2.58%) and 1,8-cineole (2.74, 4.50, and 12.46%) were found as the main components of the oils, respectively. Interestingly, a high amount of neo-menthol (30.48 and 25.09%) was identified only in the oils of two samples of Z. clinopodiodes.

Key words: Mentha longifolia var. chlorodictya, Ziziphora clinopodiodes, essential oil, cis-piperitone oxide, piperitenone oxide, P-mentha-3-en-8-ol, neomenthol.