1 Department of Life and Nature Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of M'sila, Algeria
2 Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of M’sila, Algeria
3 Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Italy
The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Salvia verbenaca (L.) Briq. ssp. clandestina (L.) Pugsl. (Lamiaceae) growing wild in Bou Saâda, pre-Saharan region of Algeria, was analyzed by GC-MS. Sixty-four compounds were detected, representing 95.6% of the whole oil, among them forty five compounds are identified in this sample for the first time. The essential oil of S. verbenaca ssp. clandestena showed the predominance of sesquiterpenes (56.4%) followed by monoterpene derivatives (35.5%). The main constituents were β-pinene (10.2%), spathulenol (8.7%), caryophylene oxide (6.1%), α-pinene (5.2%), germacrene D (5%) and α-gurjunene (4.9%). Chemical composition of the essential oil from our sample may be categorized as sesquiterpene and monoterpene chemotype among the four chemotypes identified for Salvia species.