Abstract

Hydro-distilled volatile oils of leaves and seeds of Ocimum gratissimum L Lamiaceae were investigated for chemical constituents and brine shrimp lethality activity The essential oil of the leaves of O gratissimum consisted of - terpinene 52 86 Z-tert-butyl-4- hydroxy anisole 13 93 caryophyllene 10 37 and p-cymenene 7 16 as the major compounds while the essential oils of the seeds yielded - pinene 48 19 caryophyllene 10 71 and 3-tert-butyl-4- hydroxyanisole 11 14 as the major compounds The volatile oils showed significant toxicity against brine shrimps Artemia salina as 100 mortality was recorded at 1000 ppm for the different essential oils