Small plant growing wild or cultivated in the Mediterranean basin, Africa and central Asia. Several species of
Helichrysum are known: H. italicum Don., H. stoechas D.C., H. kilimandjari and H. arenarium Mch. H. italicum, which could be
identified with H. angustifolium D.C., is a small, densely branched shrub bearing numerous yellow-colored flowers. The part used is
the flowering tops. Immortelle has an intense, pleasant, sweet odor with a fruity undertone. Immortelle oil, steam-distilled from the
fresh flowering tops has a strong, pleasant odor.
Essential oil composition
Its main constituents include free and esterified nerol, furfural, eugenol, linalool, valeric aldehyde and
d-pinene. Ten constituents, including the three naturally occurring isomers of caffeoylquinic acid (CGAs), namely, neo-chlorogenic
acid, chlorogenic acid and crypto-chlorogenic acid, two isomeric dicaffeoyl quinic acids, two isomeric naringenin glucosides, quercetin,
kaempferol and apigenin glucosides and a tetrahydroxychalcone-glucoside were isolated from immortelle. The water-soluble
extract from H. stoechas, standardized in both total polyphenol and kaempferol-3-glucoside content, exhibits strong antioxidant activity
in vitro when tested in both artificial membrane systems (phosphatidylcholine liposomes) and in a cell model (rat erythrocytes).
