Micropropagation of Origanum sipyleum L., an endemic medicinal herb of Turkey

Origanum sipyleum L. (Lamiaceae) is an endemic species of the Western Anatolia, Turkey. Essential oils of oreganos are utilized in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. A micropropagation protocol was developed using seedlings-derived explants. Shoot apices of 17d-old seedling were cultured and shoots multiplied on Murashige-Skoog modified (MSM) containing 550 mg/l of CaCl sub(2) for sustained growth. Multiple shoots (3.7 c 0.3 shoot/explant) were produced on medium containing 1 mg/L benzylaminopurine (BAP). On subculturing rated of shoot multiplication increased to 7.8 c 0.4.96% of the shoots rooted in a culture medium with 0.5 mg/L indolebutyric acid (IBA) after 3 weeks. The plantlets were acclimatized into outdoor conditions. 76% of these survived in the greenhouse. These in vitro derived microplants are already under the evaluation for their essential oil composition.