Chromatographic Fingerprinting Of Artemisia Vulgaris L. Grown In Various Locations Of Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

The present study aims to investigate the chromatographic fingerprinting of the essential oils of Artemisia vulgaris L. growing wild in Kumaon and Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India. The aerial parts were harvested in full flowering time from twenty two locations at the altitudes between 627-2793 m. The essential oils from aerial parts were isolated by hydro-distillation through a Clevenger apparatus and analysed by GC and GC/MS for the identification of their chemical composition. Chromatographic analysis has shown that all the essential oils of A. vulgaris were dominated by varied composition and chrysanthenone (0.1-26.6 %), vulgarole (0.1-20.6 %), artemisia ketone (0.01-19.8 %), alpha-thujone (0.01-19.0 %), 1,8-cineole (1.6-13.5 %), beta-thujone (0.2-13.2 %), caryophyllene oxide (1.4-11.2 %) and camphor (0.9-11.1 %). Hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to study the chemical variability among populations which showed three major groups. Group-1 having A17, A38, A42, A46 and A56 populations, was possessed vulgarole (7.6-20.6 %) in higher amount followed by gamma-eudesmol (4.9-9.2 %), camphor (1.4-10.0 %), 1,8-cineole (1.6-8.9 %) and camphene (1.3-7.5 %). In group 2 (A52, A60), artemisia ketone was found in major portions (18.9-19.8 %) followed by 1,8-cineole (2.6-13.5 %) and artemisia alcohol (1.8-8.6 %), while group 3 (A6, A9, A13, A33, A44, A48, A51, A58, A61, A65, A66, A69, A71, A74, and A75 populations) contained chrysanthenone (1.9-26.6 %) as the marker compound followed by alpha-thujone (0.03-19.0 %) and beta-thujone (2.2-13.2 %). The results proved that various chemical groups or chemotypes of A. vulgaris are available in Uttarakhand region, India.