The effects of some ecological factors on essential oil yield and composition of Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam.

Background & Aim: Different species from mint family (Lamiaceae) are used as spices and fragrance in food or as medicine against viral or microbial diseases in many countries for generation. Lamiaceae family contains 46 genus and 410 species. One of the valuable and medicinal species of this family is Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. This species contains the essential oil with pulegone as major compound and used for many medicinal uses. Experimental: In this investigation, the effect of some ecological factors on essential oil content and composition were studied. The aerial parts of Z. clinopodioides were collected at flowering stage from four habitats in Hamedan and Kurdestan provinces. The main parameters from each habitat like altitude, and percentage of slope, soil characters and other plant species were determined. The plant materials were subjected to hydro-distillation in three replications to obtain their essential oils. The essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Results & Discussion: The results showed that ecological factors had significant effect (p<0.01) on oil yields. Identification of chemical constituents of the oils showed that main compounds (pulegone and 1, 8-cineole) and minor compounds exist in different percentage in different habitats. So the ecological factors had effect on essential oil composition of Z. clinopodioides.