Active constituents of some Satureja L. species and their biological activities

Methanol extracts from the aerial parts of three Satureja L. spp. belonging to the family Lamiaceae were studied. S. cilicica is endemic to Turkey; S. icarica and S. coerulea extend to West Anatolia; S. icarica extends to the Turkish-Greek border and S. coerulea extends to the Turkish-Bulgarian border. S. icarica, S. coerulea, and S. cilicica extracts had strong fungicidal effects at high concentrations and fungistatic effects at lower concentrations. Plant methanol extracts were investigated for their antibacterial, antifungal and antimycobacterial activity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. cilicica mycobactericidal activity against M. tuberculosis. Phenolic constituents were detected using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses; the effective constituents of methanol extracts of these plants are presented, and their activities and their ethnobotanical uses are discussed.