Chemical composition of essential oils of three Salvia species growing wild in Iran:: Salvia rhytidea Benth., S-limbata CA Mey. and S-palaestina Benth.

The composition of the essential oils from aerial parts of three Salvia species: S. rhytidea Benth., S. limbata C. A. Mey. and S. palaestina Benth. have been analyzed by a combination of GC and GC/MS. During the flowering period, two oils (S. rhytidea and S. limbata) consisted mainly of monoterpenes, while in S. palaestina oil sesquiterpenes predominated over monoterpenes. The major components of the oil of S. rhytidea were beta-phellandrene (22.7%) and sabinene (13.5%). In the oil of S. limbata, alpha-pinene (23.7%), beta-pinene (18.7%) and sabinene (14.5%) were found to be the major constituents. beta-Caryophyllene (36.4%) was the predominant compound in the oil of S. palaestina.