Comparative Study of Essential Oil Content and Constituents, Extracted from Aerial Parts of Iranian Wild Achillea

The present study investigated the chemical composition of the essential oil of wild Achillea (A. wilhelmsii) populations collected from different parts of Iran including Fars (Nourabad Mamasani), Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad (Kakan, Sisakht, Margoon and Gachsaran) and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (Shahre-Kord). For this purpose, aerial parts were collected from target areas in July 2015 and chemical composition of the isolated essential oils was examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the populations in terms of essential oil content and composition. The highest and lowest essential oil yields were related to Nourabad Mamasani (0.45 %) and Sisakht (0.14) populations, respectively. In total, 38 compounds were detected of which 29, 23, 22, 22, 22 and 30 different compounds were recognized in Nourabad Mamasani, Kakan, Sisakht, Margoon, Gachsaran and Shahre-Kord populations, respectively. Camphor was found to be the most dominant compound in Nourabad Mamasani, Sisakht, Margoon and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari populations. However, the compound was not detected in Kakan and Gachsaran populations. These results suggest that chemical composition of essential oils of Iranian Achillea populations were highly variable, which may be due to the differences in their genetic background, chemical polymorphic structure and environmental conditions.