Cymbopogon is an aromatic plant that belongs to Poaceae family. Various essential oil constituents in its different species are extensively used in cosmetics, perfumery and pharmaceutical preparations. Also, some of their components are of considerable biological activity. In this study, aerial parts of C. parkeri were collected from its natural habitat (Dehbakri (Jiroft)) and also from plants that have been introduced from this habitat into Zardband medicinal plant botanic garden in north Tehran. After extraction of essential oils, identification of their components was done through GC-MS. The antifungal activity of the essential oil of wild plants was evaluated in vitro against three phytopathogenic fungi: Pyricularia oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum. Results indicated that oil yield in wild plants was 2.46% while it was 0.95% (w/w) in introduced to Zardband plants. Through oil analysis eleven components were identified that represented more than 99% of the oil. Among identified compounds, in both wild and cultivated samples Piperitone (82/96% and 87/59% respectively) was the major component. Bioassay syudies indicated that the essential oil benefits from strong fungistate activity, so that concentrations of 600 ppm of the oil inhibited growth of all tested fungi completely.
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