Phytochemical Investigation of Thymus zygis L. and Salvia officinalis L. Collected from Fez-Meknes Region, Morocco Asmae Benabderrahmane (1, 2) , Majid Atmani (1) , Abdellatif Boutagayout (2, 3) , Wijdane Rhioui (1, 2) , Saadia Belmalha (2) (1) Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco; (2) Department of Plant Protection and Environment, National School of Agriculture, Meknes, Morocco; (3) Environment and Soil Microbiology Unit, Faculty of Sciences- Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco. Egyptian Journal of Botany http://ejbo.journals.ekb.eg/ 37 T HYMUS and Salvia are among the most popular plants both in traditional medicine and in the culinary arts. This study has the aims to detect the chemical composition of the extracts and the powder of Thymus zygis L. (T) and Salvia officinalis L. (S) collected from the Fez-Meknes region. Two extracts were prepared: aqueous and essential oil. Phytochemical tests were performed to qualitatively evaluate the presence or absence of phytoconstituents using standard methods. The essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Two powder analyses were performed: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and elemental analysis. The drying of both plants took a similar amount of time with a noticeable loss in weight for Salvia. The phytochemical screening revealed the abundant presence of terpenoids, catechic tannins, steroids and sterols in the two plants. GC/MS analysis showed richness in carvacrol for Thymus zygis L. and in thujone for Salvia officinalis L. The analysis by FTIR showed characteristic peak readings of various functional groups in the powders, citing proteins, aliphatic compounds, carbonyl compounds and aromatic rings. In the elemental analysis, there is a high carbon content for Thymus and Salvia (T: 66.70%, S: 53.34%), followed by oxygen (T: 36.45%, S: 37.88%) and hydrogen (T: 6.08%, S: 5.61%). Altogether, this study highlights the richness of these two species in chemical compounds that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry. Keywords: Elemental analysis, FTIR, Phytochemical screening, Salvia officinalis L., Thymus zygis L. Introduction Mankind has used various plants found in the environment to treat and cure many diseases. They represent a huge reservoir of primary and secondary metabolites (amino acids, polyphenols, flavonoids) with a wide range of biological activities with or without a direct function in the growing and development of plants (Crozier et al., 2008). Currently, despite the remarkable development of modern medicine, traditional medicines and pharmacopoeia remain a basic solution in the relief of many health problems (Abouri et al., 2012). Morocco is a country well-known for its floral diversity due to its geography and climate, and it is one of the countries whose population is accustomed to the use of herbal remedies (Hammada et al., 2004; Msanda et al., 2005). The Lamiaceae family is one of the most represented plant families in popular medicine Egypt. J. Bot. Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 581-593 (2023) # Corresponding author email: asmae.benabderrahmane@usmba.ac.ma Received 18/12/2022; Accepted 01/03/2023 DOI: 10.21608/ejbo.2023.181580.2215 Edited by: Dr. Hamdy Zahran, National Research Centre, 12622 Dokki, Cairo, Egypt © 2023 National Information and Documentation Center (NIDOC)