Fresh aerial parts of A. biebersteinii were collected in May and June 2009 at different developmental stages (vegetative, floral budding, flowering and fruit set)from its natural habitat in the Dizin zone, northwest of Tehran, Iran (Latitude: 36° 4′ 52″N, Longitude: 51° 22′ 46″ E, Altitude: 2325-2425 m).

All oil samples from different plant parts and phenological stages were mostly made up of monoterpenoid compounds (88.6 - 99.6%), especially oxygenated ones (52.4 - 82.4%). The oil of the vegetative stage contained high amounts of limonene, 4a-alpha,7-alpha,7a-alpha-nepetalactone, p-cymene and 1,8-cineole. The major constituents in the flower budding stage oil were found to be limonene, 1,8-cineole and 4aalpha-7beta-7aalpha-nepetalactone. In the oil of the fruit set stage, gamma-terpinene, p-cymene and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate were the predominant constituents. On the other hand, the most important compounds from the stem oil were 4a-alpha,7-alpha,7a-alpha-nepetalactone, 1,8-cineole, 4aalpha-7beta-7aalpha-nepetalactone and camphor. 4aalpha-7alpha-7aalpha-nepetalactone, limonene, 1,8-cineole and cis-p-menth-2-en-1-ol were found in high concentration in the oil of leaves, whereas 4aalpha-7alpha-7aalpha-nepetalactone, 4aalpha-7beta-7aalpha-nepetalactone, limonene and p-cymene were present in large amounts in the oil of flowers.

The aerial parts of A. roxburghiana var. purpurascens were collected during the mature vegetative stage in September from different altitudes (Bhaldana, 850 m; Bhatwari, 1218 m; and Mussoorie, 2205 m) of Garhwal Himalayas.

The oil yield was lowest (0.2%) in the plants collected from the relatively higher altitude of Mussoorie; it was rich in borneol (21.2%) followed by linalyl acetate (7.4%) and alpha- humulene (6.7%). The oils from plants collected from the lower altitudes of Bhatwari and Bhaldana yielded higher percentage of oils (0.8-0.85%) which were dominated by beta-caryophyllene (16.3%, 18.4%) followed by alpha-thujone (12.0%) in the former and eugenol (16.2%) in the later.

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.