The composition of the essential oils of Acorus calamus L. rhizomes from different habitats

Abstract

Sweet flag rhizome (Acorus calamus L., Acoraceae) possesses various biological activities such as sedative, anticonvulsant, immunosuppressant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory etc. [1]. The aim was to study the content and composition of essential oils from 24 rhizome samples of the cultivated sweet flag, their comparison with the samples from 5 natural habitats, and the influence of nitrogen fertilization on the composition of essential oils. Essential oils were analyzed using GC and GC/MS. Statistical analysis included the analysis of variance and cluster analysis. The content of essential oil was not significantly different between the samples from natural habitats (0.8-1.1%) and cultures (0.3-2.2%). All samples contained dominant oxygenated sesquiterpenes (24.5-32.6%), phenylpropanoids (5.7-22.5%), and oxygenated monoterpenes (4.4-19.2%). The main components were β-asarone (10.4-21.4%), camphor (3.5-15.2%), acorenone (9.3-14.1%) and cyperotudone (7.3-11.0%). The contents of β-asarone and aristolone were significantly higher (p<0.05) in cultivated plants. The nitrogen fertilization during the cultivation did not have a significant influence (p<0.05) on the content and composition of the essential oils.