Comparison of The Essential Oil Constituents of Artemisia Herba- Alba Asso in the Vegetative and Flowering Stages

The volatile chemical constituents of Artemesia herba alba were determined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) in the vegetative and flowering stage. According to the results, there were changes in the composition and yield of the essential oil during the two phenological stages. Vegetative stage oils were complicated system as compared with flowering stage oils. 32 compounds in the vegetative stage oils and 28 compounds in the flowering stage oils could be identified. The oxygenated monoterpene 1, 8-cineole was one of the main constituent of the essential oils in vegetative stage with average value of 8%, while this component was not found in flowering stage at all in this research, oxygenated monoterpenes, cis – pinocarveol and Artemisia ketone, were the main components of the essential oils in both the stages; they showed values 17.5% and 13% in the vegetative stages and 29.6% and 21.3% in the flowering stages.