Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. from Western Himalaya†

Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of the whole plant of Centella asiatica (L.) Urb., growing wild in western Himalaya, was investigated by GC-FID and GC-MS on two columns of different polarities. The oil contained 73.3% of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, comprised mainly of β-caryophyllene (23.2%), α-humulene (23.1%), trans-β-farnesene (6.3%), germacrene-D (5.4%) and caryophyllene oxide (3.3%).