Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil of Warionia saharae from Oases of Morocco

The Warionia saharae which belongs to the important composite’s family is an endemic species of North Africa, characterized by a discerning odour (Bonnet and Maurry, 1889). Warionia saharae was reported for the first time in the Oranais Sahara (Beni ounif in Algeria) by Dr.Warrion as a shrub of 1 to 3 m of height. The thick trunk, is covered of a gray peel, structural of very wavy terminal leaf bouquets, and of capitulate of yellow flowers (Photos 1 and 2). The picking of stems leafed of this bush, clear a very heady and spicy odour; the latex that flows out of injuries of the peel, glue to hands in a very tenacious way (Lebrun, 1979).