Abstract
The essential oil of the aerial parts of Thymus ciliatus (Desf.) belonging to the Lamiaceae family, was obtained by steam distillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. 75 components were identified corresponding to 95.57% of the total oil. The major constituents of the oil were: elemol (6.80%), carvacrol (5.86%), γ-muurolene (5.18%), β-sesquiphellandrene (5.09%), bicyclogermacrene (5.04%), β-pinene (4.49%) and curcumene (4.20%), together with other compounds at relatively low levels: 1,8-cineol (3.66%), β-eudesmol (2.92%), β-bisabolene (2.81%), β-silinene (2.75%), camphor (2.64%), germacrone (2.34%), α-zingiberene (2.12%), δ-cadinene (2.08%), caryophyllene oxide (1.90%), spathulenol (1.88%), □-caryophyllene (1.88%), ar-turmerone (1.79%), α-pinene (1.52%), limonene (1.52%), selina-4,11-diene (1.46%), curzerenone (1.41%), germacrone B (1.37%), bornyl acetate (1.31%), β-farnesene (1.28%), borneol (1.23%), myrtenal (1.16%), zingiberenol (1.15%) and sabinene (1.13%). These results differ from those of previous studies reported on this species collected from other regions of Algeria and Morocco.