Morphological, chemical and antibacterial characteristics of Laurus nobilis L. growing in Tunisia

This study shows the variations between ten Laurus nobilis L. trees from different Tunisian localities in relation to the morphological parameters, composition of essential oils extracted from leaves and their antibacterial activity. Aggregation of trees according to their geographical origin seems not evident. Two main groups of populations were clearly separated according principally, to the leaves size and the inflorescences number. The leaves essential oil composition did not vary throughout the Laurus nobilis L. trees and all analyzed samples were dominated by oxygenated monoterpenes 1,8-cineole, methyl eugenol and α-terpinyl acetate. Specially, oils rich in 1,8-cineole were demonstrated to have potent activities against the S. aureus and E. faecalis. Individual plant evaluation, however, remains the only way to effectively seek for well defined essential oil composition or specific combinations of morphological and analytical characters.