Original Research Article
Compositional variation in the leaf, flower and stem essential oils of Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) from Western-Himalaya

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Abstract

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.), family Lamiaceae is an important perennial culinary and medicinal plant cultivated in temperate regions of Asia, Europe and America. The hydrodistilled volatile oils derived from leaf, flower and stem of H. officinalis, collected from Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India (Western-Himalaya) were investigated by gas chromatography (GC–FID) and GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Essential oil yield varied from 0.22% to 4.4% in the different parts of the plant. Fifty-seven constituents, representing 99.8% of the leaf oil composition; 44 constituents, representing 99.4% of the flower oil composition and 57 constituents, comprising 88.4% of the stem oil composition were identified. Major constituents of the oils were cis-pinocamphone (49.7–57.7%), pinocarvone (5.5–24.9%), β-pinene (5.7–9.3%), 1,8-cineole (2.9–8.0%), β-phellandrene (1.8–3.2%), myrtenyl methyl ether (2.7–3.0%), sabinene (0.8–1.9%), isopimara-9(11),15-diene (<0.05–1.9%), myrtenol (1.4–1.7%), myrcene (0.5–1.3%), and trans-pinocamphone (<0.05–1.3%). The comparative results clearly indicated that the leaf and stem oil compositions were quite similar in terms of cis-pinocamphone and pinocarvone content. However, the flower oil composition could be differentiated from the leaf and stem oils by the presence of a higher amount of pinocarvone.

Introduction

Hyssopus officinalis L. (Lamiaceae), popularly known as ‘Hyssop’, is a perennial shrub, native to southern Europe, the Mediterranean and temperate regions of Asia. In India, this species occurs from Kashmir to Kumaon at an altitude of 2440–3350 m (Hooker, 1885). The aerial parts of the plant, known as ‘Zufah Yabis’ in the Unani system of medicine, act as a stimulative, carminative, expectorant and antispaspodic and are used for the treatment of cough, cold, and asthma (Chopra et al., 1956). H. officinalis has a rich aromatic odour and strong flavour. Its extracts and oil are used in many food products such as condiments and beverages including bitters and liqueurs. In the fragrance industry the essential oil is used in soaps, cosmetics and perfumes (Wesolowska et al., 2010). Leaf extracts/essential oils of Hyssop are antimicrobial, mildly spasmolytic, antioxidant and exhibit strong antiviral activity against HIV (Kreis et al., 1990, Letessier et al., 2001, Ozer et al., 2006). Antibacterial and antifungal properties of Hyssop have been attributed to the presence of pinocamphone, isopinocamphone and β-pinene. Antiviral activity of the plant is probably due to the presence of caffeic acid, tannins, and unidentified high molecular weight compounds (Kreis et al., 1990, Letessier et al., 2001).

The essential oil compositions of H. officinalis have been investigated from different parts of the world (Schultz and Stahl-Biskup, 1991, Shah, 1991, Galambosi et al., 1993, Tsankova et al., 1993, Kerrola et al., 1994, Gorunovic et al., 1995, Garcia-Vallejo et al., 1995, Veres et al., 1997, Garg et al., 1999, Kizil et al., 2008, Wesolowska et al., 2010). Hyssop oils from different phenotypes or from different areas show considerable variability in chemical composition (Lawrence, 1992a, Piccaglia et al., 1999). In some cases, constituents such as β-phellandrene (Lawrence, 1992a), 1,8-cineole (Garcia-Vallejo et al., 1995), limonene and methyl eugenol (Gorunovic et al., 1995) have been reported to be the main constituents of the oils instead of pinocamphone and isopinocamphone.

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the compositions of the leaf, flower and stem oils of H. officinalis growing wild in Western Himalaya (India).

Section snippets

Plant materials

The plant material of H. officinalis was collected from a wild population growing in Malari, district Chamoli; Garhwal region of Uttarakhand (79.829 N; 30.643 E; altitude 2761 m) during the third week of August, 2012 when the plants were in bloom. The sampling was done from five plants and combined. The plant material was authenticated at the Botany Department of the CSIR-CIMAP, Research Centre Pantnagar India. A voucher specimen is stored in the Departmental Herbarium (CIMPANT-353). Leaf, flower,

Results and discussion

The yield of essential oils observed in shade dried leaf, flowers, and stem of H. officinalis were 4.2%, 4.4%, and 0.22%, respectively. A total of 57 constituents, representing 99.8% of the leaf oil; 44 constituents, representing 99.4% of the flower oil and 57 constituents, forming 88.4% of the stem oil compositions were identified using GC/FID and GC/MS analyses. The detailed results are summarized in Table 1. Total Ion Current chromatograms (TIC) of essential oils of the different parts of H.

Conclusions

GC–MS analysis of the essential oils of different parts of Hyssop (leaf, flower and stem) showed cis-pinocamphone as the major constituent along with many minor and trace constituents. The content of pinocarvone was noticed to be highest in the flower oil as compared to the stem and leaf oils. Frequently reported constituents, viz. hedycariol or elemol were not detected in the present study. Furthermore, the study also revealed that the plant part had a profound influence on the chemical

Acknowledgements

CSIR, New Delhi is thankfully acknowledged for the financial support to carrying out the work. Authors are also thankful to the Director, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for proving necessary facilities and encouragement, Dr G.D. Bagchi, Scientist, CSIR-CIMAP for critically going through the manuscript and the Central Instrument Facility (CSIR-CIMAP) for providing facility for GC/MS analysis.

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