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Acorus calamus L. (Araceae), is a semi aquatic perennial herb extensively distributed in western Himalaya. To explore the variability in volatile constituents of rhizome essential oils of A. calamus growing wild in foot and mid hills of Uttarakhand, India; twenty one populations were collected during spring season from an altitude of 215 m to 1827 m. The essential oil yield was found to vary from 0.68% to 5.80% in the different populations of A. calamus. GC-FID and GC-MS analysis of oil samples resulted in identification of forty constituents comprising 94.0-99.9% of oil compositions. Phenyl propanoids (81.9-96.9%) represented by β-asarone (69.8-95.6%), α-asarone (0.1-4.7%), (Z)-methyl isoeugenol (<0.1-4.4%), (E)-isoeugenol acetate (0.0-3.7%), (E)-methyl isoeugenol (0.1-2.9%) and ?-asarone (<0.1-1.6%) constitute the major fraction of essential oil composition. Other major constituents identified were a-selinene (0.1-7.2%), humulene epoxide II (<0.1-3.5%), p-cymene (<0.1-1.9%) and a-bisabolol (0.0-1.6%). Comparative results and subsequent statistical analysis based on euclidean multidimensional distance scaling showed considerable variations in rhizome essential oils composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effort was made to determine the impact of geographic range on genetic richness and chemical constituents of Valeriana jatamansi Jones, an herb indigenous to the northwestern Himalaya. The genetic structure of 16 accessions from two major divisions of Uttarakhand state (Kumaon and Garhwal) was analyzed by ISSR markers. Overall genetic diversity among the populations was 45 %, with a cumulative range of 35-92 % similarity for most of the high-altitude plants and a comparatively narrow range, 50-88 %, for the population below the altitude of 1,800 m. Likewise, a remarkable predictability was evident from the chemical constituents on an individual basis. In principal component analysis, most of the accessions fall into two major groups and are classified as chemotypes based on the percentage of similar chemical constituents; these are mostly correlated to altitude. Geographic distance seems to influence the genetic and chemical variability, indicating the genetic inbreeding within the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The walnut tree (Juglans regia L.), commonly known as ‘Akhrot’ in India, is a valuable tree has a long history of medicinal use to treat a wide range of health complaints. To explore the diversity in essential oil yield and composition of J. regia, leaves were collected during spring season from 28 populations growing in western Himalaya. Comparative results showed considerable variations in the essential oil yield and composition of J. regia leaves. The essential oil yield varied from 0.02% to 0.12% in fresh leaves of the different populations of J. regia. Analysis of the essential oils by GC/FID and GC/MS and the subsequent classification by statistical analysis resulted in three clusters with significant variations in their terpenoid composition. Altogether, 70 constituents, representing 83.2–98.0% of the total oil composition, were identified and quantified. Major components of the essential oils were (E)-caryophyllene (1.4–47.9%), β-pinene (4.5–39.5%), germacrene D (5.0–23.3%), α-pinene (1.5–18.1%), α-humulene (1.1–11.8%), α-zingiberene (0.1–11.3%), α-copaene (0.0–10.1%), limonene (0.8–8.6%), caryophyllene oxide (0.1–8.6%), ar-curcumene (0.0–7.2%), δ-cadinene (0.3–6.7%), (E)-β-farnesene (0.0–5.9%), 1,8-cineole (<0.0–5.4%), γ-curcumene (0.0–4.2%), and methyl salicylate (0.1–4.0%). This is the first report on leaf volatile oil composition of J. regia populations from western Himalaya. Out of the 70 identified constituents, over 25 were described for the first time for J. regia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]