the essential oil of stachys lavandulifolia vahl (lamiaceae) was isolated by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of the plant, with a yield of 0.25%. the chemical composition of volatile oil was analyzed by capillary gc and gc/ ms. the main components were germacrene-d (13.2%), ?-phellandrene (12.7%), ?-pinene (10.2%), myrcene (9.4%), ?-pinene (8.4%) and z-?-ocimene (5.8%).

the genus stachys belongs to lamiaceae family with about 300 species and worldwide distribution. in the present study, the cytotoxic activity of four fractions of different satchys species (s. byzatina c. koch., s. inflata benth., s. setifera ten. and s. persica gmel.), has been investigated against ht-29 (colon carcinoma), caco-2 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), t-47d (breast ductal carcinoma) and...