LAMIALES NEWSLETTER LAMIALES Issue number 4 February 1996 ISSN 1358-2305 EDITORIAL CONTENTS R.M. Harley & A. Paton Editorial 1 Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK The Lavender Bag 1 Welcome to the fourth Lamiales Universitaria, Coyoacan 04510, Newsletter. As usual, we still Mexico D.F. Mexico. Tel: Lamiaceae research in require articles for inclusion in the +5256224448. Fax: +525616 22 17. Hungary 1 next edition. If you would like to e-mail: [email protected] receive this or future Newsletters and T.P. Ramamoorthy, 412 Heart- Alien Salvia in Ethiopia 3 and are not already on our mailing wood Dr., Austin, TX 78745, USA. list, or wish to contribute an article, They are anxious to hear from any- Pollination ecology of please do not hesitate to contact us. one willing to help organise the con- Labiatae in Mediterranean 4 The editors’ e-mail addresses are: ference or who have ideas for sym- [email protected] or posium content. Studies on the genus Thymus 6 [email protected]. As reported in the last Newsletter the This edition of the Newsletter and Relationships of Subfamily Instituto de Quimica (UNAM, Mexi- the third edition (October 1994) will Pogostemonoideae 8 co City) have agreed to sponsor the shortly be available on the world Controversies over the next Lamiales conference. Due to wide web (http://www.rbgkew.org. Satureja complex 10 the current economic conditions in uk/science/lamiales). Mexico and to allow potential partici- This also gives a summary of what Obituary - Silvia Botta pants to plan ahead, it has been the Lamiales are and some of their de Miconi 11 decided to delay the conference until uses, details of Lamiales research at November 1998. It is hoped that the Kew and a list of currently recog- Bibliography of recent conference will be held in Oaxtepec, nised genera. Information concern- taxonomic publications 12 near Mexico City. The organisers ing the conference will also be car- will be: Baldomero Esquivel, Institu- ried here as planning proceeds. to de Quimica, Circuito Exterior, Cd. ❑ THE LAVENDER BAG THE ACTIVITY OF A LAMIACEAE Susyn Andrews RESEARCH TEAM IN Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK HUNGARY Imre Máthé The Lavender Bag newsletter first in the genus. The Lavender Bag Institut of Ecology and Botany, appeared in May 1994 and has will appear in May and November Hungarian Academy of Sciences, been welcomed by Lavender and if you would like to receive H-1263, Vácrátót, Hungary enthusiasts all over the world. Its future issues, please send £2.50 aims are to facilitate information (£4.00 overseas via air mail) to the exchange, aid identification and Editor, Mrs Joan Head, 6 Church A significant part of Hungarian accurate labelling and provide a Gate, Clipston-the-Wolds, Key- Lamiaceae research is conducted by forum for amateur and professional worth, Nottingham, NG12 5PA, a joint research team of approxi- plantsmen and plantswomen who United Kingdom. mately 15 researchers at the have more than a passing interest Research Institute of Ecology and ➣ 1 Botany of the Hungarian Academy botanical garden seed exchanges, biology of the species. The bio- The first results of these investiga- of Sciences (Vácrátót) and at the partly by gathering and/or cultivating mass and certain secondary tions will be published soon. A CENTRAL Institute of Pharmacognosy of the the native species (92 species are in metabolites of the species were AMERICAN WEEDY SALVIA IN ETHIOPIA A. Szent-Györgyi Medical Univer- Hungary). Nowadays the collection measured during the growing sea- The diversity of compounds pre- sent in many plants, forced us to sity (Szeged). This team is headed has 500 accessions of some 150 son (time-dependent variation). In Sebsebe Demissew deal with methodological prob- by the author of this paper. In addi- species in 30 genera. a similar way the populations of The National Herbarium, Addis Abeba University, P.O. Box 3434, Addis tion to the work of this team some various origin (space-dependent lems. We had to justify the repro- These populations give us the Abeba, Ethiopia. additional research is carried out in variation) were compared with each ducibility of our results and meth- opportunity for multidisciplinary co-operation with other Institutes other. Such studies have been per- ods, and we wanted to elaborate work. The continuous revision like the Institute of Pharmacognosy formed on Melissa officinalis L., quick and sensitive methods for In connection with a collaborative Leaves petiolate; Leaf-blade (reevaluation) of the taxa from a of the Semmelweis Medical Uni- Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Oci- routine investigations so that the research between the University of broadly ovate, 4-6 x 3.5-5 cm, morphological viewpoint is of out- versity (Budapest), the Medicinal mum basilicum L., Salvia officinalis comparative work could be more Addis Abeba, Ethiopia and the sparingly pubescent, acuminate at standing importance. As a result of Plant Research Institute L., S. pratensis L., S. nemorosa L., reliable. TLC Densitometry University of Illinois in Cham- the apex, truncate at the base, fine- this systematic work new taxa in (Budakalász) and with the Depart- S. nutans L., Marrubium species, proved to be a good tool beside paign Urbana, USA, I made field- ly and regularly crenate. Inflores- Hungary have been found. ment of Chemical Engineering of Hyssopus officinalis L., etc. The UV-VIS photometry, HPLC, trips in 1994-95 to the project sites cence simple or paniculate; verti- the Technical University Since the beginning of our work, purpose of this work was to select OPLC, GC, GC-MS measure- in Welo Region in north central cils 6-14 flowered. Calyx hispid, (Budapest). The research is spon- comparative studies have been car- the best strains for further breeding. ments. Ethiopia. In both trips, I came ribbed, 4-6 mm long, 2-lipped, sored partly by National Grants ried out, among them, the determi- At the same time information could Special processes were also tried for across and collected a very unusual upper lip + entire. Corolla blue, 5- (OTKA) and partly by companies. nation of the presence, or absence be gained about the expected diver- a more detailed evaluation of the herbaceous labiate, which I had not 7 mm long. Seeds black. The School of Pharmacy and Bio- of some chemical characteristics of sity of the species concerned. encountered before. After collect- chemistry of some common Lami- The plant is a native of Central medical Sciences, University of the Lamiaceae. The excellent work ing the specimen for the first time The occurrence and quantitative aceae. A series of investigations America. It has been introduced to Portsmouth, and University Insti- of Cantino & Sanders (1986) pro- in 1994, I tried to match it with changes of the N-methylated were carried out on Salvia offici- the United States and ?Canada. tutes in Transylvania (Romania) are vided the basis for subfamilial com- specimens at the National Herbari- amines characteristic of the family nalis, Lavandula angustifolia, According to available informa- among the collaborating foreign parison. In addition to essential um, Addis Abeba University are also investigated. Some com- Melissa officinalis for the compari- tion, the plant is only so far known research institutes. oils, rosmarinic acid, iridoids, etc. (ETH), but without success. In a pounds like trigonelline, choline son of their extracts gained by in the African Continent from Pre- we found that the freely occurring subsequent visit to the project area The theoretical basis of the investi- betain, stachydrin, etc. may be of supercritical fluid CO2 extraction, toria, South Africa, having been triterpene carbonic acids (oleanolic in 1995, I collected the plant in gations dates back to a general pro- important role in stress. The study and traditional water steam distilla- introduced in 1943 (Codd, 1985). and ursolic) may merit more other localities as well asking the ject, “Chemotaxonomic and Pro- of their variation may be of chemo- tion respectively. detailed study (Máthé et al 1993). local people if they had any infor- The species was probably intro- duction Biological Evaluation of taxonomic significance as well as The number of papers, short com- Though it has been known for a mation on the plant: local names, duced to Welo Region in north Plants, Native or Suitable for Intro- physiological one. munications, abstracts of presenta- long time that these compounds are local uses, etc. I was told by nearly central Ethiopia in the 1980’s. duction into Hungary”. This tions has surpassed one hundred present in the family, they seem to Some investigations were carried all informants that the plant was The Region was frequently affect- research was launched by the late since the beginning of this occur in much larger amounts, like out in connection with the pres- known in the area only for only ed by drought and famine followed Prof. I. Máthé Sen. more than three research. the essential oil content, in the ence of beta ecdysone in the four to six years and was spreading by massive humanitarian assis- decades ago. The goal of this pro- species of Nepetoideae rather than Lamiaceae. Ecdysteroids are pre- rapidly. I then thought that the tance, one element of which was ject is to evaluate plant taxa for cul- those of the Lamioideae. This phe- sent in Ajuga. We have tested plant may have been introduced. In the distribution of grains and cere- tivation in Hungary. Within it, the References. nomenon seemed to be interesting other genera and could not find a research visit in July 1995, to the als for food and for cultivation. study of the Lamiaceae was started Cantino P.D. Sanders R.W. (1986): enough to start intensive work on them in detectable quantities in Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gar- Since then the plant has gradually by three researchers in 1986.