Essential oil characterization of Satureja rechingeri in Iran

• The essential oil composition was homogeneous.
• The main chemical component in oils of the studied populations was carvacrol.
• Rosmarinic acid showed a wide variability among the studied populations.
• Carvacrol was negatively correlated with thymol.
• Cluster analysis grouped the studied populations into two main clusters.

In this research, phytochemical variation among seven populations of Satureja rechingeri was assessed based on essential oil composition and rosmarinic acid content. There was a wide variability for rosmarinic acid content among the studied populations, but the essential oil composition was homogeneous. The main chemical component in oils of all the studied populations was carvacrol (89.20–96.20%). Rosmarinic acid content of methanolic extracts had considerable variation varying from 0.54 to 7.29% (w/w) of the dry matters based on qualitative and quantitative TLC analysis. Carvacrol was negatively correlated with α-pinene, p-cymene, limonene and thymol. Cluster analysis using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) grouped the studied seven populations into two main clusters based on phytochemical compositions which all the studied populations were known as carvacrol chemotypes. Thus, S. rechingeri can be introduced as a rich carvacrol source in full flowering stage.