The chemical composition of the flowers essential oil of (Asteraceae) growing in aeolian islands, Sicily (Italy) and its biocide properties on microorganisms affecting historical art crafts.

Essential oils have been used for a long time in several fields of interest. Recently, they have also been applied in the conservation of Cultural Heritage to contrast biodeterioration replacing the most current biocides toxic for humans and environment. L. (syn. (L.) Dumort) is a halophyte species distributed along the Mediterranean coasts and it is used as an edible vegetable since the young leaves or shoots are eaten raw or cooked. Several biological properties have been determined for this plant including antimicrobial activities. In this study the volatile composition of the aerial part of an accession from the Aeolian Islands, Sicily (Italy) is described. Furthermore, the antibacterial assay against four species of bacteria isolated from a XX century , a leather painted puppet from Andhra Pradesh (India), was showed by the Agar disc diffusion method.