Composition of the essential oils of thymus deanensis celak var. deanensis from different regions of Iran

Thymus deanensis is a known aromatic plant which grows widely in Iran and many mediterranean regions. In previous studies composition of essential oils of many species of Thymus genus reported which they were rich of phenols like Thymol and Carvacrol. Water distilled essential oils from aerial parts of Thymus deanensis var. deanensis from three different localities in Iran were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. 20 compounds representing 87.8% of the region of Azerbaijan Mountains [A] oil were identified with thymol [70.8%], carvacrol [6.3%] as main constituents. 13 compounds representing 98.6% of Damavand, Mosha [B] oil were identified with thymol [53.6%], carvacrol [23.8%] and p-cymene [11.0%] and then thymol [72.1%] and p-cymene [5.3%] were the major constituents of the latter oil Chaharmahal Bakhtiari [C] among the 16 compounds characterized which represented 99.6% of the oil. The composition of three samples of Th. deanensis oils in our research was similar to the composition of other phenol-rich Iranian species. Although the content of thymol in Th. deanensis is higher than many reported cultivated Thymus vulgaris

[Quality and quantity evaluation of flavonoids in the aerial parts, flowers and fruits of Varthemia persica [var. persica] DC]

Varthemia persica is an aromatic plant belonging to the Astraceae family. The plant is endemic to Iran. It contains volatile oils and the main constituents of volatile oils are sesquiterepens. There is no information regarding flavonoid constituents. Extract was prepared from freeze-dried power of flower, fruit and aerial parts with methanol-water [1-1] and HCl [1.2 M]. Determination of myricetin, Lute Olin, apigenin, quercetin and kaempferol in all samples were carried out by HPLC. The plant flowers contain all five mentioned flavonoids, however, fruit and aerial parts contain only kaempferol, lute Olin and quercetin. The plants can be considered as flavonoid containing plant and are a good candidate for pharmacological studies

Pharmacognosical and plant tissue culture studies of Melissa officinalis L.

Melissa officinalis is a traditional herbal medicine used widely as a mid sedative, spasmolytic and antibacterial agent. This paper focuses on the analysis of the chemical composition of essential oil from the upper parts of plant and calli of Melissa officinalis. Growing the calli of Melissa officinalis L. and production its secondary metabolites studied and compared with those in the whole plant. Melissa seeds were first surface sterilized by shaking in 0.3% [W/V] aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution containing 1 drop tween 80, then by shaking in 5% Na hypochlorite and 70% aqueous Ethanol solution then, under aseptic condition, strile petrydishes containing autoclaved agar [0.8%] and kept in the dark at a temprature of 25-27°C. Seedlings were developed in one week. Then they were transferred to strile Murashing and skoog [MS] culture media which were containing 2, 4- D [1 mg/l], IAA [1 mg/l] and K [0.2 mg/l] as plant grow regulators. The amorph masses [calli] were produced and subcultvred every 20-25 days. The result obtained from GC/MS of essential oil if upper parts of plant indicated that the major compounds of the essential oil are Citronellal, Neral, Geranial and ?- Caryophyllene. In contrast, calli lacked essential oil, this was indicated upon GC of its dichlorometanic extract, however phytochemical tests indicated that some tannins were produced by calli