Extraction and identification of essential oil composition of different Subspecies of Ziziphora Clinopodioides Lam. from different habitats of Iran

The genus Ziziphora (Lamiaceae) consists of four species (Z. clinopodioides L., Z. capitata L., Z. persica Bunge. and Z. tenuior L.), wildly distributed in Iran. Ziziphora clinopodioides with the common Persian name of “kakuti-e kuhi” is a rich source of essential oils. In this study, aerial parts of five subspecies of Z. clinopodioides were collected. After drying the plants, the essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation. The composition of the essential oils was analyzed and identified by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/Mass (GC/MS). The essential oils of different subspecies were different qualitatively and quantitatively. In the essential oil of subsp. Rigida, collected from Urmia and Fars, 15 and 19 compounds were identified, respectively. In both, the main compound was pulegone (46.8%) and (36.1%), respectively. In the essential oil of subsp. filicaulis from Arasbaran, subsp. bungeana from Tabriz and subsp. ronnigeri from Urmia, 15, 18 and 19 compounds were identified, respectively. The main compound was pulegone (46%), (23%) and (52%), respectively. In the essential oil of subsp. pseudodasyantha, collected from Qazvin (before to Zoshk) and Qazvin, 14 and 16 compounds were identified, respectively. Pulegone (49.8%) and Limonene (29%) were identified as the main compounds, respectively. In the essential oil of the mentioned subspecies, collected from Garmabdareh and Shahrestanak, 18 and 16 compounds were identified, respectively. The main compounds were -terpinene (16.1%) and 1,8-cineol (32.4%), respectively.