Identification of Artemisia campestris L. subsp. glutinosa (Besser) Batt. from Oriental Morocco based on its morphological traits and essential oil profile

Artemisia campestris l. (asteraceae) is a perennial herb,commonly known as field wormwood and widespread in asia,north america,europe and north africa. this plant consists of many subtaxa differentiated on the basis of floral data. however,the subspecies that prevails in morocco is the subsp. glutinosa (besser) batt. that spans a wide geographical distribution,mainly in the anti-,high- and the middle atlas of morocco,in the rif,along the coast of the mediterranean and widely common in high plateaus of eastern morocco. previous studies exhibited that a.campestris l. from different origins is represented by serval essential oil-chemotypes. in this perspective,this work was elaborated to characterize a.campestris l. subsp. glutinosa from eastern morocco focusing on the morphological features and essential oil-based chemotyping. the microscopic observations of a.campestris l. subsp. glutinosa specimen showed that this plant is distinguished by a heterogamous and ovoid capitula surrounded by an involucre of bracts and constituted by peripheral functionally male flowers and central female flowers,organized on convex receptacle. moreover,the gc-ms analysis of the essential oil extracted from aerial part of a.campestris l. subsp. glutinosa confirmed our previous study (submitted manuscript) and revealed a new chemotype characterized by spathulenol as a major compound. morphological and chemical criteria represent a key role for the identification of a.campestris l. subsp. glutinosa. nonetheless,additional descriptors could be useful to optimize this botanical and chemical determination especially to determine the intraspecific variabilities in the different populations of moroccan a.campestris l. subsp. glutinosa,like cytological and molecular markers.