Aromatic Plants growing in Nigeria: Essential Oil Constituents of Cassia alata (Linn.) Roxb. and Helianthus annuus L.

The volatile constituents identified from the leaves of two Nigerian plants are being reported. The oil samples were obtained from the studied plant species by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus and then subsequently analyzed for their constituents by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The quantitatively significant constituents of the leaf oil of Cassia alata (Linn.) Roxb., (Fabaceae) were 1, 8-cineole (39.8%), β-caryophyllene (19.1%) and caryophyllene oxide (12.7%). Limonene (5.2%), germacrene D (5.5%) and α-selinene (5.4%) constituted the other significant compounds present in the oil. T he sunflower oil, Helianthus annuus L., (Asteraceae) was rich in α-pinene (16.0%), germacrene D (14.4%), sabinene (9.4%) and 14-hydroxy-α-muurolene (9.0%).