Essential Oils of Four Himalayan Nepeta Species

Abstract

The chemical compositions of four Nepeta species collected from the Himalayan region of India have been determined for the first time by using a combination of GC, GC/MS and spectroscopic techniques. The oil of N. floccosa was found to be rich in neral (33.1%) and geranial (32.4%), N. govaniana oil contained 4aα, 7α, 7aα-nepetalactone (25.9%), germacrene D (20.5%) and β-elemene (17.5%) and N. discolor oil contained α-pinene (18.5%), β-pinene (12.6%), myrcene (10.7%) and linalyl acetate (12.3%). The oil of N. royleana was found to be rich in 1,8-cineole (75%)

Key Word Index:

• Nepeta floccosa
• Nepeta discolor
• Nepeta govaniana
• Nepeta royleana
• Lamiaceae
• essential oil composition
• geranial
• neral
• 4aα
• 7α
• 7aα-nepetalactone
• germacrene D
• β-elemene
• linalyl acetate
• α-pinene
• β-pinene
• myrcene and 1,8-cineole