By A. Kabouche, Z. Kabouche, A. Ghannadi and S.E. Sajjadi

Abstract: Abstract: The volatile compounds obtained by hydrodistillation of aerial parts of Teucrium polium ssp. aurasiacum (Lamiaceae) were analyzed by GC/MS. Twenty-one compounds were characterized representing 91.5% of the essential oil with α-cadinol (46.8%), 3β-hydroxy-α-muurolene (22.5%), α-pinene (9.5%) and β-pinene (8.3%) as the main components. It is the first time that 3β-hydroxy-α-muurolene has been characterized in T. polium oil. Key Word Index: Teucrium polium ssp. aurasiacum, Lamiaceae, essential oil composition, α-cadinol, 3β-hydroxy-α-muurolene.

Introduction
The genus Teucrium (family Lamiaceae, subfamily Teucrioideae, tribe Teucriaea) is represented by more than 340 species of which 20 are found in Algeria (1). Some studies on the composition of the oils of T. polium have been reported earlier in the literature (2–4). Teucrium polium is well known for its diurectic, diaphoretic, antipyretic, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, antinociceptive and hypolipidemic properties (5–9). Teucrium oils have recently been reported to exhibit antimicrobial (10) and antispasmodic (11) activities. The oils of T. polium from Iran (12) and Yugoslavia (13) were mainly represented with germacrene D (23.6–13.2% and 11.9%, respectively), while the major components of the Turkish T. polium species were β-pinene (18%), β-caryophyllene (18%) and α-pinene (12%) (14). α-Pinene and β-pinene were the major components of the oils of T. polium ssp. valentinum from Spain (15.8% and 11.7%, respectively) (15) and Turkey (7.58% and 10.18 %, respectively) (16). As part of our interest in investigating the essential oils of Algerian Lamiaceae species (17–19), we describe here, for the first time, the analysis of T. polium ssp. aurasiacum (Arabic “Khayata”), which is an endemic subspecies to the Aures (northeastern Algeria).