Accumulation of Essential Oils in Tissue Cultures of Coleus amboinicus

ABSTRACT Tissue cultures of the medicinal plant Coleus amboinicus Lour. (syn. Coleus aromaticus) initiated from stem, leaf, and axillary buds were analyzed for the accumulation of essential oils. Thymol and cis-caryophyllene in the parent plant, tissue culture regenerated plants as well as in the root cultures of C. amboinicus were identified by GC-MS. The thymol content in the parent plant (0.009% fresh weight) and tissue culture plant (0.012% fresh weight) were comparable whereas the thymol content in the root cultures (0.029% fresh weight) was double that of these plants.