Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oils from the Leaves, Fruits and Stems of Lantana camara L. from the South China

The chemical composition of the hydrodistilled essential oils from the leaves, fruits and stems of Lantana camara L. from the South China were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The GC/MS analysis revealed the sesquiterpenoids germacrene D (20.0%), trans-caryophyllene (14.8%) and alpha-humulene (5.8%) as major constituents in the leaf oil, and palmitic acid (22.5%), stearic acid (12.6%) and germacrene D (7.0%) as major constituents in the fruit oil, while the major constituents in the stem oil were germacrene D (31.0%), beta-elemene (17.6%) and alpha-phellendrene (6.7%). The essential oils were tested for antibacterial activity against 6 strains, using broth dilution method. Both the leaf and stem oils showed moderate inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus dysenteriae, B. proteus, and Escherichia coli. High percentage of sesquiterpenes in the oils were primary responsible for the antibacterial activities.