Abstract

The essential oils from seeds and stem-bark of Monodora myristica (Annonaceae) growing wild in south western Nigeria and used as spice in many parts of Nigeria were extracted by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC- MS. The percentage yields of oils were 2.16%v/w and 0.25%v/w, respectively. The essential oil of seeds contained germacrene D-4-ol (25.48%), tricyclo[5.2.1(1,5)dec-2-ene (13.35%), δ-cadinene (11.09%) and linalool (15.10%) as major constituents while the dominant constituents of the stems-bark oil were γ-cadinene (31.31%), α-elemene (17.98%), α-cubebene (6.70%) and γ-muurolene (5.94%). The major constituents of the seeds oil of Monodora myristica from Nigeria were compared based on literature.

Key words: Essential oil; Monodora myristica; Hydrodistillation; Nigeria