Essential oil composition of Artemisia herba-alba from southern Tunisia.

The composition of the essential oil hydrodistilled from the aerial parts of 18 individual Artemisia herba-alba Asso. plants collected in southern Tunisia was determined by GC and GCMS analysis. The oil yield varied between 0.68% v/w and 1.93% v/w. One hundred components were identified, 21 of of which are reported for the first time in Artemisia herba-alba oil. The oil contained 10 components with percentages higher than 10%. The main components were cineole, thujones, chrysanthenone, camphor, borneol, chrysanthenyl acetate, sabinyl acetate, davana ethers and davanone. Twelve samples had monoterpenes as major components, three had sesquiterpenes as major components and the last three samples had approximately the same percentage of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The chemical compositions revealed that ten samples had compositions similar to those of other Artemisia herba-alba essential oils analyzed in other countries. The remaining eight samples had an original chemical composition.