Essential Oil Composition and Biological Activity of Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. from Iran

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. growing in Iran was analysed by GC and GC/MS. Twenty-six components accounting to 97.62% of the total oil were identified. The major components were pulegone (36.45%), piperitenone (19.12%), Menth-2-en-1-ol (5.31%), carvacrol (5.10%), neomenthol (4.78) and menthone (4.46%). The essential oil was tested against Anopheles stephensi and Culex pipiens larvae. The results obtained show that the essential oil could be considered as natural larvicidal agents.