The seeds of these species were cultivated on September 2006 in the research farming Institute of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, (North east of Iran). On July 2007 at full flowering stage, the flowering parts of the plants were harvested. The major composition of the essential oils of Achillea eriophora, A. nobilis, A. biebersteinii, A. wilhelmsii and A. millefolium from aerial parts analysed by GC and GC-MS. The essential oil of A. eriophora DC. were identified and major compounds were camphor (28.98%), 1,8-cineole (26.98%) and camphene (5.98%). The essential oil of A. nobilis L. subsp neilreichii (Kerner) Formanek was found to contain: α-thujone (29.74%), guaiol acetate (17%) and nuciferol acetate cis (6.12%). The major compounds of A. biebersteinii Afan. were piperitone (7.34%). 1,8-cineole (33.18%), carvacrol (10.63%) and α-terpinene (8.68%). The oil of A. wilhelmsii C. Koch. was characterized by higher amounts of Camphor (25.26%), α-pinene (7.93%) and 1,8-cineole (5.77%). The major compound of A. millefolium were 1,8-cineol (14.93%), sabinene (8.46%), oplopanone (5.12%) and nerolidol acetate (E) (4.98%). The results showed that 1,8-cineole in all species is major compound.

Keywords