Ethnobotany, chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the essential oil from Achillea micranta L. in Golestan province

Achillea micranta L. is a wild endemic medicine herb with important therapeutic effects has been used in traditional north of Iran. GC-MS analysis of the isolated essential oil from  flowering aerial parts of A. micranta resulted to identification of 23 constituents, that eucalyptol (1,8-cineol) with 19.9%, borneol (11.9%), camphor(11.1%) and thujene (5.1%) were the major constituent of essential oil studied, respectively. The antibacterial activity was individually evaluated against 2 tested bacteria. We concluded that the essential oil showed a good antibacterial activity against tested bacteria but the Gram-positive bacteria staphylococcus aureus was more sensitive. This study confirms that the essential oil of A. micranta L. possesses antibacterial properties in vitro. 1,8-cineol, borneol and camphor can be considered as the main antibacterial constituents of the oil studied.