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 (~20 cm, 15-100 g) of A. campestris L. from ten different wild populations of Lithuania were gathered at the full flowering stage. Plant material was dried at room temperature (20-25 ℃). Oils (samples 1-10) obtained from Artemisia campestris plants collected at sampling sites (A-I,Y) characterized by locality, city (c.) or district (d.), soil type (Or, ordo; Sn, sand; Sl, sandy loam; Gr, gravel; Lm, loam) and description of natural habitat (Af, abandoned field; Fe, forest edge; Ct, cutting area; Mw, meadow; Rs, roadside; Rv, river valley): A (1) Birstonas c. (Or, Ct); B (2) Palanga c. (Sn, Fe); C (3) Nociunai, Kedainai d. (Or, Mw); D (4) Alytus c. (Sl, Rs); E (5) Moletai c. (Lm, Af); F (6) Kaltanenai, Sencionys d. (Gr, Fe); G (7) Merkine, Alytus d. (Sl, Ct); H (8) Trakai c. (Gr, Af); I (9) Druskininkai c. (Or, Rv); Y (10) Vilnius c. (Gr, Af).

The main chemical profile (ten samples) was characterized by the predominance of germacrene D (9.8-31.2%), while spathulenol, humulene epoxide II and caryophyllene oxide were found as the first major compounds in another three oils. One oil was determined as a mixed chemotype. Some compounds such as gamma-curcumene, alpha-cadinol, (E,E)-alpha-farnesene, beta-ylangene, beta-selinene and humulene epoxide II have been mentioned for the first time among three principal constituents in A. campestris oils. The fifty-six components made up 73.6.1-98.5% of the total content, while the remaining twenty-six volatile compounds were identified in insignificant amounts in the A. campestris essential oils.

The leaves of aerial parts were collected in Heshuo county of Xinjiang province in China in July 2003 (a vegetative stage), June 2003 (a budding stage); and August 2003 (a flowering stage), respectively.

Only 23 constituents were present at the budding stage, while 24 and 26 at the flowering and vegetative stages, respectively. p-Cymene and gamma-terpinene were not detected at the vegetative stage of the plant. During the budding stage, butyric, beta-caryophyllene, geranyl acetate and cis-jasmone could not be detected. Benzaldehyde was observed only at the vegetative stage. Variations were also observed in quantity. In all cases the analyzed oils were characterized by the high concentration of alpha-thujone, ranging in amount from 37.0% at the vegetative stage to 54.8% at the budding stage. The concentration of alpha-thujone at the flowering stage (49.0%) was lower than the budding stage, but higher than the vegetative stage. The concentration of cis-chrysanthenyl acetate varied between 23.5% and 7.2%, respectively, at the vegetative and budding stages. At the vegetative stage the concentration of 1,8-cineole was observed to be the lowest. It was highest at the budding stage, representing 10.4%, then decreased gradually to 8.8% at the flowering stage. The concentration of beta-thujone was relatively low at the vegetative stage, representing 8.6%, and then increased to 10.5% at the budding stage. When flowers appeared it was found to vary a little. Finally, the concentration of sabinyl acetate ranged from 10.2% (vegetative stage) to 6.5% (flowering stage).

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.

Aerial parts of H. altaicus Willd. (Novopokr.) plants were randomly collected from the wild at four different altitudes, as described below, during the 1999-2001 vegetation periods. All the collections of the plant samples were carried out during massive bud formation and the beginning of flowering. Sample # 1 (3.4 kg) was collected on July 14, 1999 from LAT: 53° 05′ LON: 85° 00′, 330 m, Altai Region, Troiszkii Raion, around the village of Taldinka, 4-5 km below the Bolshoi Rechke, facing southwestern Sopki, Tipchakovo-Heteropalusovo-Pavilnaya steppe. Sample # 2 (10.5 kg) was collected on July 28, 1999 from LAT: 51°, LON: 86° 40′, 600 m, Altai Republic, Ongudaiskii Raion, at the right side of the delta of Lake Ursup, surrounding Stepushka village, along the roadside. Sample # 3 (8.5 kg) was collected on July 30, 2000 from LAT: 51° 39′ LON:79° 59′, 120 m of Altaiskii Krai, Litovskii Raion, 2 km southwest of the Ustianka village, along the roadside. Sample # 4 (6.5 kg) was collected on August 2, 2001 at LAT 50° 11′ LON 87° 53′, 1550 m of Altai Republic, Kosh-Agachiskii Raion, 24 km away from Kurai village, towards North-Tchuiskoe mountain chain following the right side of lake Tete where there is a mixture of heavy weeds.

The oil obtained from 330 m had alpha-pinene (18.6%), myrcene (18.6%), beta-phellandrene (17.2%), (E)-beta-ocimene (12.9%) and germacrene D (11.9%), while samples from 600 m consisted of myrcene (26.4%), alpha-pinene (23.2%), beta-phellandrene (18.0%), (E)-beta-ocimene (9.9%), germacrene D (4.3%) and sabinene (4.2%). The oil from 120 m had -pinene (22.0%), beta-phellandrene (21.6%), myrcene (19.5%), trans-beta-ocimene (11.3%), germacrene D (7.2%) and limonene (4.5%) as major components. At 1550 m the major components were germacrene D (22.0%), myrcene (18.0%), beta-phellandrene (14.0%), alpha-pinene (11.3%) and (E)-beta-ocimene (9.2%).

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%).

Aerial parts of T. larvatum were collected in July and August during a five-year period, starting in 2001, in Montenegro on several locations: Planinica (Sample a), Visitor (Sample b) and Sinjajevina (Sample c).

Sixty-four components were identified, representing 83.1%, 96.6% and 89.4% of the total oils content in the Planinica [Sample a], Visitor [Sample b] and Sinjajevina [Sample c], respectively. The major constituent in Samples a and b , was oxygenated monoterpene, trans-sabinyl acetate (38.1% and 55.8% respectively). Monoterpene hydrocarbons, beta-pinene (13.5%) and santolinatriene (30.6%), were found to be the dominant components in Sample c. The toxic trans-sabinyl acetate was present only in traces in this sample. trans-Chrysanthenyl acetate, as one of major components in feverfew essential oil, has not been previously identified in the investigated essential oils.

Aerial parts of T. larvatum were collected in July 2002, during the period of full flowering from two locations in Montenegro: Mt. Komovi (Sample I) and Mt. Prokletije (Sample II), altitude ca. 1900 m.

About 40 compounds were identified, representing ~89% and 96% of the total oil content in the Samples I and II, respectively. trans-Sabinyl acetate was found to be the dominant component (51.2% and 69.7%). Among the rest of compounds beta-pinene (7.7% and 4.3%) and camphor (6.3% and 4.3%) were the most abundant in both samples.