Essential oils extraction
The essential oils were extracted from a 300 g sample of plant leaves and stems by microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (30 min, 250 mL water), using a Clevenger-type distillation apparatus and a Dean-Stark distillation trap in a domestic microwave oven (Kendo, MO-124, 2.5 GHz, 800 W) (9). Sodium sulfate (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) was added as a drying agent to the decanted essential oil.