Chemical Composition Variability of Essential Oils in Different Parts of the Spice Plant Heracleum rawianum During Ontogenesis

Abstract

Heracleum rawianum with the local name of ´Baldirqań is used as flavoring agent, spice and food additive in Azerbaijan province of Iran. In present study, the essential oil of this species at different phenological stages including vegetative (leaves), full flowering (leaves, flower stalk and flowers) and fruit set (unripe and ripe fruit) were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectometry (GC-MS). There were qualitative and quantitative differences in the chemical composition among these essential oils. The essential oils isolated from vegetative stages’ leaf, flowering stages’ leaf and flower stalk were dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons, while essential oils of flower, unripe and ripe fruit were rich in aliphatic esters. In the present study, p-cymene and β-pinene in leaf of vegetative phase, β-bisabolene and (Z)-β-ocimene in leaf sample at flowering stage, (E)-β-ocimene and β-bisabolene in flower stalk, hexyl butyrate and β-bisabolene in flowering umbels, hexyl butyrate and octanol in unripe and ripe fruit essential oils were detected as major compounds.