Variability of morphological and phytochemical characteristics among Satureja hortensis L. accessions of Iran

Variability of morphological traits, essential oil content and its composition and rosmarinic acid content of 30 Iranian accessions of Satureja hortensis L. was studied. Significant variation was observed among accessions for all the investigated traits. The accessions of Isfahan (53.0 g/plant), Maraghe b (40.8 g/plant) and Yasooj (39.5 g/plant) showed high yield of drug fraction. The oil content varied between 0.5% in accession of Marivan to 2.9% in accession of Isfahan b. The essential oils of different accessions of S. hortensis were analyzed by GC-FID and GC–MS. Twenty nine components were identified in the oils and carvacrol (42.0–83.3%), γ-terpinene (0.5–28.5%) and p-cymene (1.0–17.1%) were the major components of all accessions. Qualitative and quantitative TLC analysis of rosmarinic acid content of methanolic extracts showed considerable variation ranging from 0.06% to 0.69% (w/w) of the dry matters which was lowest and highest in accessions of Sanandaj and Tabriz a, respectively. Due to the uniformity of cultivation and climatic conditions, variation of studied traits is related to genetic factors, therefore selection would be useful for their genetic improvement.