Rosmarinus eriocalyx: An alternative to Rosmarinus officinalis as a source of antioxidant compounds Hamdi Bendif a,b,1 , Messaoud Boudjeniba a , Mohamed Djamel Miara b , Loreta Biqiku c , Massimo Bramucci c , Giovanni Caprioli c,1 , Giulio Lupidi c , Luana Quassinti c , Gianni Sagratini c , Luca A. Vitali c , Sauro Vittori c , Filippo Maggi c,⇑ a Laboratory of Ethnobotany and Natural Substances, Department of Natural Sciences, Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), Kouba, Algiers, Algeria b Faculty of Sciences, Natural and Life Sciences Department, Mohamed Boudiaf University, M’sila, Algeria c School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy article info Article history: Received 1 June 2016 Received in revised form 7 September 2016 Accepted 8 September 2016 Available online 10 September 2016 Keywords: Rosmarinus eriocalyx Rosmarinic acid HPLC Antioxidant Essential oil GC–MS abstract Rosmarinus eriocalyx is an aromatic evergreen bush endemic to Algeria where it is used as a condiment to flavour soups and meat and as a traditional remedy. In the present work we have analyzed for the first time the phenolic composition of polar extracts obtained from stems, leaves and flowers of R. eriocalyx by HPLC, and determined the antioxidant and antimicrobial effects by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, ORAC and agar disc diffusion methods, respectively. Results showed that ethanolic extracts of leaves and flowers are a rich source of phenolic compounds, mainly rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid and carnosol that are the main responsible for the noteworthy antioxidant activity observed in the assays. This study showed that R. eri- ocalyx might be a spice to be included in the European food additive list and used as a preservative agent besides R. officinalis. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Rosemary is a worldwide culinary additive to foods. This spice is obtained mainly by Rosmarinus officinalis L. a Mediterranean shrub cultivated mostly in Spain, Morocco and Tunisia (Flamini, Cioni, Morelli, Macchia, & Ceccarini, 2002). Normally, the parts of rose- mary used for the preparation of extracts and essential oils are the top flowering aerial parts including leaves, twigs and inflores- cences. In the European Union R. officinalis is used in foodstuffs as a preservative agent due to the presence of antioxidant compounds such as phenolic acids, flavonoids and diterpenoids (EC Regulation, 2012). For the purpose, various kinds of extracts can be prepared and used as additives. In addition, rosemary leaf, under the name ‘Rosmarini folium’, is included in the European Pharmacopeia and used for medicinal preparations; the plant drug is chemically defined as it is characterized by minimum 3% of hydroxycinnamic derivatives expressed as rosmarinic acid (European Pharmacopoeia, 2014). Rosemary is one of the oldest known medicinal plants also in Algeria. Herein, the genus Rosmarinus is considered as an universal remedy under the arabic vernacular name Iklil el djebel (Arnold, Valentini, Bellomaria, & Hocine, 1997). Besides the more wide- spread R. officinalis, another member of the genus occurs in Algeria, i.e. R. eriocalyx Jord. & Fourr. The species, previously known as R. tournefortii (Noë ex Jord. & Fourr.) Jahand. & Maire, is represented by aromatic evergreen bushes endemic to Algeria, Spain and Mor- occo (Bendeddouche, Benhassaini, Hazem, & Romane, 2011). The plant grows widely on rocky ground and pastures in the mountain- ous areas of eastern Algeria (Arnold et al., 1997; Benbelaïd et al., 2016). R. eriocalyx differs from R. officinalis for its smaller leaves, only 5–15 mm long and less than 2 mm broad, and for a more den- sely hairy flower stems. In this regard, the epithet ‘eriocalyx’ means woolly calyx, alluding to its double hairy calyx, being characterized by one short type and long erect glandular hairs. Another differ- ence with respect to R. officinalis is its prostrate growth and lower height (often under 25 cm and never exceeding 1 m tall) (Fadel et al., 2011). To the best of our knowledge, most of phytochemical and phar- macological studies focused on R. officinalis proving its universal use as a food preservative agent. On the other hand, only a few studies were conducted on R. eriocalyx and concerned mainly its http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.09.063 0308-8146/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, via S. Agostino 1, 62032 Camerino, Italy. E-mail address: filippo.maggi@unicam.it (F. Maggi). 1 These authors equally contributed to the article. Food Chemistry 218 (2017) 78–88 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem