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The richness and diversity of the Moroccan Saharan flora constitutes a veritable phytogenetic reservoir with a flora that includes more than 500 aromatic and medicinal species, many of which remain unexploited. Among these plants we find Atremisia herba alba in the region of Guelmim (Sahara of Morocco) which has a great potential in phytomass and which deserves to be better valued. The objective of this work is the comparative study of the yield and chemical composition of the essential oil derived from Artemisia herba alba in Guelmim region (Sahara of Morocco) according to the date of harvest as well as the determination of its antibacterial and antifungal activity towards eleven microorganisms. Essential oils yields expressed in ml compared with 100 g of dry matter of Artemisia herba alba harvested in March, June, September and December (2015) are respectively 1.62; 0.95; 0.64 and 1.85 %. Chromatographic analyses of essential oils revealed the predominance of camphor, cis-b-terpineol, camphene, trans-thujone and trans-verbenol whose rates vary according to the plant phenological stage. The essential oil of Artemisia herba-alba collected during March was the most active against all microorganisms tested.

Clonal eucalyptus are highly valued in Morocco and in the Mediterranean basin for the production of industrial wood, but nothing is known about their ability to resist xylophagous plants. This study aims to investigate the chemical defenses response of eucalyptus trees to artificially attacks by young larvae of Phoracantha recurva by assessing changes in essential oil production and composition of leaves from Eucalyptus grandis and its clone 977. Fungicidal and termicidal essential oil activities were evaluated to value their biocidal properties. In the Northwest region of Morocco, six of vigorous eucalyptus-trees were selected for each wood species studied. In contrast to a control tree without infection, three from each species were artificially infested in three part of the trunk by hatched larvae of P. recurva. After two months, the most important cambial reaction was observed with E. grandis compared to clone 977. For both species, the primary reaction is less important compared to the reaction of deep tissues. The essential oils recovered by hydrodistillation show that the infested trees have the highest average yield. Arian parties are 1.51% and 2.36% respectively for E. grandis and its clone 977, after infestation, we can observe a decrease of the production of essential in the leaves, respectively 1% and 1.5% for E. grandis and its clone 977. The analysis of the chemical composition by GC-MS method of essential oils shows that the leaves of infested trees of E. grandis and its clone 977, have specific constituents resulting from infestation such as Endo-fenchol, trans-carveol, Nerol and Spathulenol. Equally, this analysis revealed that the attacked trees hemi-synthesized more components compared to their controls. However, the evaluation of fungicidal and termiticidal activities showed that the essentials oil of the clone 977 is more active compared to the parental species E. grandis.

Essential oils from Juniperus thurifera, Juniperus oxycedrus and Juniperus phoenicea (Cupressaceae) collected in various areas in Morocco were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by CG and CG/ SM. Twenty-four components were identified in the essential oils from the branches of Juniperus thurifera, forty seven from Juniperus oxycedrus and twenty-six from Juniperus phoenicea. The majority components obtained are pinenes and especially â-pinene (36.3%) for the essential oils from the branches of Juniperus thurifera and á-pinene for those of Juniperus oxycedrus (52.1%) and Juniperus phoenicea (64.2%). The antioxidant properties of oils were determined by the DPPH method and were compared to that found for the reference compound (BHT) and for other essential oils.

As part of the valorization of medicinal and aromatic plants in South Morocco, we studied the effect of provenance on the yield, chemical composition and antibacterial and antifungal activity of essential oils of Ammodaucus leucotrichus subsp. leucotrichus. The essential oils obtained by hydro-distillation of the fruits were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The most abundant compounds identified varied depending on the origin of the plant: perillaldehyde (69.9% to 88.7%), limonene (8.3% to 16.6%) and α-pinene (1.4% to 7.1%). The oils analyzed all displayed strong antimicrobial activity against all the microorganisms tested.