Composition of the essential oils from Ziziphora aragonensis and Micromeria fruticosa from Spain

Ziziphora aragonensis Pau and Micromeria fruticosa (L.) Ducre (Lamiaceae) are usually grown in Spanish home gardens for medicinal purposes. They are commonly known as "poleos" and traditionally used as teas for gastrointestinal disorders and colds. While the chemical composition of the essential oil of M. fruticosa has been widely analyzed, there are few reports on the oil of Z. aragonensis. The study of the volatile oils of these old-grown plants is important to typify the cultured material, in most cases selected from wild. With this aim, the hydrodistilled essential oils from the aerial parts of both species were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Identification of the constituents was achieved from their retention indices in two columns of different polarity, and by comparison of their mass spectral fragmentation patterns with those stored in our own database and with literature data. More than 80% of each oil was identified. The major constituents of Z. aragonensis oil were pulegone (59.4%), α-copaene (4.4%), estragole (4.1%), and 8-hydroxy-p-menthan-3-one (4.0%), whereas in the oil of M. fruticosa isomenthone (44.5%), pulegone (17.1%), menthol (14.6%), and isomenthol (3.5%) were found to be the major compounds.