Essential oil composition of Morina longifolia Wall. ex DC. from the Himalayan region

Abstract

Morina longifolia Wall. ex DC. is an important aromatic plant that is also well-known in ethnomedicine in the Himalayan region. The aerial parts of the plant were collected during the flowering stage and steam distilled in order to characterize the essential oil composition. Thirty-three compounds constituting 94.2% of the total volatiles were identified using gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID) and GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The major constituent of the volatile fraction was β-myrcene (42.5%), whereas other important constituents were bicyclogermacrene (8.9%), germacrene D (6.7%) and limonene (6.3%). The characterization of the essential oil might help out to establish new potential applications for this species, both as herbal supplement and as fragrance agent.