Essential oil composition of different populations of Thymus caramanicus Jalas growing wild in Iran

Thymus species are well known as medicinal plants because of their biological and pharmacological properties. Thymus caramanicus Jalas is an endemic species of Iran. Essential oils of the air-dried aerial parts of seven populations of Thymus caramanicus collected from different locations of Iran were obtained by hydrodistillation with a yield of 0.41–2.9% (w/w). The essential oils were analyzed by combination of GC and GC-MS techniques. Oxygenated monoterpenes were the main group of constituents in all samples. carvacrol (24.9–97.6%), Thymol (25.6–36.9%), p-cymene (2.9–16.1%), and γ-terpinene (1.3–8.1%), represented as the major compounds.