Fatty Acid Profile and Biological Data of Four Endemic Cephalaria Species Grown in Turkey

The fatty acid compositions of the n-hexane extracts of the aerial parts of four Turkish Cephalaria species, (C.stellipilis, C. davisiana and C. elazigensis var. purpurea) were analyzed by GC-MS for the first time. The oil yields of these species were determined as ranging from 0.07% to 0.36 %. Seventeen fatty acids as methyl esters were identified. All extracts were found to contain significant quantities of palmitic, linoleic (LA), stearic and alpha-linolenic acid ( ALA). ALA was the most abundant fatty acid in all species (29.00%, 30.51%, 32.49% and 34.87% for C. stellipilis, C. elazigensis, C. davisiana and C. paphlagonica, respectively). Other dominant fatty acid was palmitic acid, which ranged from 19.10% to 28.23% for all species. LA was detected in a considerable amount of 19.44 % for C. paphlagonica. The n-hexane extracts of the plants were also checked for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities.