The essential oil content in the inflorescence of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) cultivated in the mid hills of Uttarakhand was found to be 2.8 % based on the fresh weight. The oil was analysed by capillary GC and GC- MS. Thirty seven constituents, representing 97.81 % of the oil were identified. The major components of the oil were linalyl acetate (47.56 %), linalool (28.06 %), lavandulyl acetate (4.34 %) and ?-terpineol (3.75 %). The quality of lavender oil produced in India was found to be comparable to that produced in Hungary, France, China, Bulgaria, Russia and the USA.

Rosa damascena Mill. is an important aromatic plant for commercial production of rose oil, water, concrete and absolute. The rose water and rose oil produced under the mountainous conditions of Uttarakhand were investigated for their chemical composition. The major components of rose water volatiles obtained from the bud, half bloom and full bloom stages of cultivar 'Ranisahiba' were phenyl ethyl alcohol (66.2-79.0%), geraniol (3.3-6.6%) and citronellol (1.8-5.5%). The rose water volatiles of cultivar 'Noorjahan' and 'Kannouj' also possessed phenyl ethyl alcohol (80.7% and 76.7%, respectively) as a major component at full bloom stage. The essential oil of cultivar 'Noorjahan' obtained from two different growing sites was also compared. The major components of these oils were citronellol (15.9-35.3%), geraniol (8.3-30.2%), nerol (4.0-9.6%), nonadecane (4.5-16.0%), heneicosane (2.6-7.9%) and linalool (0.7-2.8%). This study clearly showed that the flower ontogeny and growing site affect the composition of rose volatiles. The rose oil produced in this region was comparable with ISO standards. Thus, it was concluded that the climatic conditions of Uttarakhand are suitable for the production of rose oil of international standards.

Fish-mint (Houttuynia cordataThunb.), belonging to family Saururaceae, has long been used as food and traditional herbal medicine. The present study was framed to assess the changes occurring in the essential-oil composition of H. cordata during annual growth and to evaluate allelopathic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiacetylcholinesterase activities. The essential-oil content ranged from 0.06 - 0.14% and 0.08 - 0.16% in aerial parts and underground stem, respectively. The essential oils were analysed by GC-FID, GC/MS, and NMR ( H and C). Major constituents of aerial-parts oil was 2-undecanone (19.4 - 56.3%), myrcene (2.6 - 44.3%), ethyl decanoate (0.0 - 10.6%), ethyl dodecanoate (1.1 - 8.6%), 2-tridecanone (0.5 - 8.3%), and decanal (1.1 - 6.9%). However, major constituents of underground-stem oil were 2-undecanone (29.5 - 42.3%), myrcene (14.4 - 20.8%), sabinene (6.0 - 11.1%), 2-tridecanone (1.8 - 10.5%), β-pinene (5.3 - 10.0%), and ethyl dodecanoate (0.8 - 7.3%). Cluster analysis revealed that essential-oil composition varied substantially due to the plant parts and season of collection. The oils exhibited significant allelopathic (inhibition: 77.8 - 88.8%; LD : 2.45 - 3.05 μl/plate), antibacterial (MIC: 0.52 - 2.08 μl/ml; MBC: bacteriostatic) and antifungal (MIC: 2.08 - 33.33 μl/ml; MFC: 4.16 - 33.33 μl/ml) activities. The results indicate that the essential oil from H. cordata has a significant potential to allow future exploration and exploitation as a natural antimicrobial and allelopathic agent.

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The hydrodistilled essential oils of Ocimum basilicum L. cvs. 'Vikarsudha' and 'CIM-Soumya', Ocimum sanctum L. cvs. 'Green' (CIM-Ayu) and 'Purple', Ocimum gratissimum L. and Ocimum kilimandscharicum Guerke have been studied by capillary gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Phenylpropanoids (65.2-77.6%) constituted the major proportion of the essential oil compositions of O. sanctum, O. basilicum and O. gratissimum, whilst oxygenated monoterpenes (72.7%) constituted the major proportion of the oil composition of O. kilimandscharicum. The essential oil compositions of cvs. 'Green' and 'Purple' of O. sanctum were almost the same, and both cultivars were dominated by eugenol (67.4% and 72.8%), β-elemene (11.0% and 10.9%), β-caryophyllene (7.3% and 8.4%) and germacrene D (2.4% and 2.2%), whilst the major components in O. basilicum cvs. 'Vikarsudha' and 'CIM-Soumya' were methyl chavicol (68.0% and 64.9%) and linalool (21.9% and 25.6%), along with bicyclogermacrene (2.0% and 0.7%) and α-terpineol (1.2% and 0.1%). Eugenol (77.2%), 1,8-cineole (7.6%), germacrene D (2.7%) and β-caryophyllene (1.7%) were identified as the major constituents of O. gratissimum. On the contrary, the essential oil from O. kilimandscharicum was mainly dominated by monoterpenoids (95.8%), represented by camphor (64.9%), limonene (8.7%), camphene (6.4%) and (E)-β-ocimene (3.0%).