Populations of A. annua cultivar 'Jeevanraksha' and accession Suraksha were grown in the experimental field plot of the Institute at New Delhi. The seeds were sown in January 2004, seedlings transplanted in late February 2004 and aerial parts (flowers, leaves and stems from the upper 0.5 m of crop canopy) sampled in late October 2004.

Ninety-seven compounds comprising 91.3% of the total oil of 'Jeevanraksha' were identified. Forty-three monoterpenes (56.6%), 32 sesquiterpenes (31.1%), and 2 diterpenes (0.2%) comprised bulk of the oil (87.9%). The oil was devoid of artemisia ketone and contained camphor (13.5%), 1,8-cineole (9.4%), trans-sabinol (7.1%), p-mentha-1(7), 5-dien-2-ol (6.3%), myrcene (4.7%), germacrene D (4.4%), (E)-beta-farnesene (3.9%), beta-caryophyllene (3.7%), dihydroartemisinic lactone (3.0%) and p-cymene (2.0%) as the major constituents. Eighty-six compounds representing 93.3% of the composition were identified in the Suraksha oil. This oil contained artemisia ketone (47%), 1,8-cineole (8.4%), camphor (5.9%) and alpha-pinene (5.2%) as the major components.

The aerial parts of D. assadii Alava. were collected in the wild from Lalehzar (Kerman Province, in southern Iran) at the flowering stage, in July 2007. The material was dried at room temperature and used for distillation. Distillation: A direct-fired field distillation unit containing a distillation tank (capacity: 1,000 L), a condensation column and receiver, all made of stainless steel, and which can process 30-50 kg of dried aerial parts from the plants/batch, was installed at an altitude of 2600 m (boiling point: 87 ℃). Dried aerial parts from the plants (40 kg) were charged into the distillation unit along with 500 L fresh water and the unit was heated by steam. The system was kept open to atmospheric pressure until the temperature reached to 70 ℃, when the air present in the unit was replaced by the vapor. After complete removal of air from the unit, the air vent was closed and the whole unit was operated as a closed system under pressure to distill the oil. The pressure, temperature and rate of distillation were controlled manually. The process was completed after the collection of 500 L of water distillate. The oil collected in the receiver and dried over anhydrous Na₂SO₄. Extraction of Ducrosia Second Oil From Ducrosia Water by Redistillation: The seprated distillate water collected in the receiver was redistilled in a 1,000 L still to yield more Doucrosia oil (this oil is known as secondary essential oil, second oil, cooked oil or indirect oil).

Fifty components were identified in a second oil of D. assadii from Lalehzar with decanal (35.2%), nonadecane (12%) and citronellyl acetate (11.6%) as the main constituents. The oil from Dehbakrii also contained decanal (36.4%) as the main component of an oil recovered from the distillate water. The results showed that the amount of decanal is remarkably high in the oils of D. assadii.

The plant material was collected in eastern Lithuania (July-August, 2002). Numbers of growing localities of H. arenarium with yellow (Y) and orange (O) flowers were as follows: Svencionys district (Zalavas) and Ukmerge district (Sventupe).

The 68 constituents identified comprised 73.8-90.7% of the total oil content. It was found that the principal constituents were: beta-caryophyllene (in three inflorescence and one leaf oil), delta-cadinene (in two leaf oils), octadecane (in one leaf oil) and heneicosane (in one inflorescence sample). Monoterpenes and oxygenated monoterpenes made up 4.0-13.9%, aliphatic hydrocarbons 0.4-35.3%, and sesquiterpenes 24.7-71.2% of the oils.

Myrtle (M. communis var. italica) aerial parts were collected monthly during 2006-2007 from Jbal Stara of Haouaria region in North Tunisia, belonging to a subhumid bioclimate.

In conclusion, high fluctuations were observed in the oil yields and composition of different parts of Myrtus communis var. italica during all the collecting periods. They could be explained by genetic and environmental factors. Moreover, significant differences were revealed in the main oil compounds. alpha-Pinene percentages showed the most remarkable changes among the different part oils. So, leaf oils contained more alpha-pinene than those of the fruits and stems during the myrtle vegetative cycle.

Plant materials were collected from Chalous Road (north of Tehran province) both at the flowering stage in June and the seed stage in September 2003. The fresh plants were dried at room temperature. Dried stems/leaves (S/L) (collected during flowering stage), seeds (S) were hydrodistilled for 3 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus to produce the oils.

The major constituent in the stem/leaf oil was trans-alpha-bergamotene (77.1%), whereas the major constituent of the seed oil was pregeijerene (87.0%). Nonadecane (8.6%) were the other major constituents in the stem/leaf.

Experimental site: The present study was conducted at the experimental farm of the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur (1325 m amsl, 32° 06′ 05″ N, 76° 34′10″ E), India, in 2011. Minimum temperature ranges from 3.5 ℃ to 19.8 ℃, maximum temperature ranges from 15.2 ℃ to 31.4 ℃, relative humidity varies between 62.2% and 94.1% in the morning and 45.0% and 87.2% in the evening, and bright sunshine hour ranges from 2.9 to 8.9 hours. Plant material: A population of approximately 50,000 plants raised from mixed stem cuttings collected from perennial rose plantations at the University of Agriculture, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, and maintained in the field of the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India, were utilized as an original gene pool of R. damascena. Two varieties, Jwala and Himroz were diversified through selections of desirable traits (morphological/oil content) across 25,000 plants. The five elites, three of R. damascena var. Jwala, (Indica, Super jwala and Jwala) and two of R. damascena var. Himroz (Hot himroz and Himroz) were developed through field selections and maintained at the Natural Plant Products Division Experimental Farm of the Institute. Rosa bourboniana plants were collected from the Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre, Kannauj, UP, India, during 1992 and maintained at the Natural Plant Products Division Experimental Farm of the Institute.

The essential oil content of the varieties of R. damascena varied from 0.037% to 0.051% and that of R. bourboniana was 0.017%. Super jwala recorded the highest oil content (0.051%). A total of 32 components were identified in the different varieties of rose oil. These components constituted 78.1-93.5% of the total rose oil species. The main components of rose oil were citronellol + nerol (16.3-30.1%), geraniol (15.8-29.3%), linalool (0.7-1.9%), rose oxide (0.9-2.6%), phenyl ethyl alcohol (0.1-0.4%), eugenol (0.3-2.2%), nonadecane (7.3-14.7%). The content of citronellol + nerol (30.1%) and geraniol (29.3%) was the highest in Himroz compared with other varieties.

Plant material and isolation procedure: Aerial parts of the plant were collected from two regions, from Kazeroon in southern Iran and Shahr-e-kord in western Iran at the time of flowering in June 2002.

The main components of the oil of S. pilifera collected from Kazeroon, in southern Iran, were spathulenol (15.8%), cis-chrysanthenol (15.3%), beta-caryophyllene (8.4%) and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (6.9%), while for the plant collected from Shahr-e-kord, in western Iran, they were cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (21.8%), linalool (18.9%), terpinen-4-ol (11.9%) and cis-chrysanthenol (9.2%).