Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oils from Flower and Leaves of Lagochilus kotschyanus Boiss. A New Species from Iran

Background: The genus lagochilus, family Lamiaceae consists of 44 species, 33 of which grow in central Asia. Only one report on the analysis of essential oil of Lagochilus species has been published. Objective: Aim of this study is to determine the chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the hydrodistilled oil of flower and leaves of Lagochilus kotschyanus Boiss. of Iranian origin for the first time. Methods: The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the flower and leaves of L. kotschyanus were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The antimicrobial activities were determined by measuring the growth inhibitory zones (well diffusion assay). Results: The major constituents of the flower and leaf oils appeared to be myrcene (28.2% and 36.6%), α-pinene (25.9% and 29.8%) and β-caryophyllene (10.3% and 9.4%), respectively. Conclusion: In L. kotschyanus we identified 34 components representing 95.2% and 18 constituents representing 96.3% of the flower and leaf oils, respectively. Both oils were rich in regard to monoterpene hydrocarbons (72.7% and 79.7%) respectively. The sesquiterpene fraction was relatively small, representing 19.4% and 14.1%, respectively. Antibacterial activity was measured using the growth inhibitory zones. It was found that oil from leaves and flowers of L. kotschyanus, and especially that of flowers, exhibited interesting antibacterial activity.