Characterization of the endemic Achillea teretifolia Willd. essential oil

Abstract

The genus Achillea L. (Asteraceae), which is commonly known as “yarrow”, is mainly distributed in the Northern hemisphere. Turkeyis one of the most important centers of diversity for the genus in the world. Many species of the genus Achillea have been knownsince the times of Dioscorides and used in the folk medicine to treat various illness and disorders in our country. In this study, theaerial parts of the endemic Achillea teretifolia Willd. collected from Afyon were investigated for essential oil composition.Hydrodistilled essential oil obtained from the aerial parts of the plant was analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Forty-eight compounds were identified representing 71.5% of the total oil, 1,8-cineole(16.1 %), camphor (12.7 %), p-cymene (10.6 %) and terpinen-4-ol (6.1 %) were characterized as the main constituents.