Chemical composition of the essential oil of Artemisia austriaca JACQ. growing wild in Iran

Objective: The genus Artemisia (Asteraceae) comprises approximately 400 species of commonly perennial and fragrant herbs distributed in the northern temperate region of the world. Artemisia austriaca JACQ. is one of the most common species of the genus distributed from central Europe to Siberia, Turkey, and Iran. In Iran, the plant is indigenous to East Azerbaijan and Ardabil province. In the present study, the essential oil composition of the aerial part of Artemisia austriaca and some allelopathic potential of the oil were studied. Methods: The essential oil of the plant was obtained by hydrodistillation using a clevenger type apparatus. After dehydratation, the essential oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Results: The results showed that the camphor (15.88%), 1,8-cineole (10.75%), camphene (3.53%) and beta-fenchyl alcohol (3.03%) were the main components among 51 constituents characterized in the oil. The plant essential oil showed significant anti-sclerotinia and phytotoxic activity. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that there is a high level similarity between the major compound of essential oil of A. austriaca samples collected from northwest of Iran, Ardabil, and Turkey. Accordingly, the two samples may represent the same chemotype. On the other