There are some 85 species of Salvia found in Turkey with some of them being shrubs, subshrubs and perennial and containing monoterpenes with antiseptic characteristics.
It has been noted that these compounds decrease the DNA synthesis in the cell which makes it important in the diagnosis and treatment of some types of cancers. These plants have been used for years in folk and alternative medicines in addition to their value as ornamental plants for gardens and for their important essential oils which are used for fragrances, soaps, and in the food industry.
There have been several studies done on various species of Salvia and other genera of the Lamiaceae family, but the overall number is limited. It was this situation which encouraged Conan Ozdemir and Gulcan Senel to investigate the properties of Salvia sclarea and to publish their findings in a journal article entitled "The Morphological, Anatomical, and Karyological Properties of Salvia sclarea L." in the Tr.J. of Botany 23(1999)7-18. The following is a summary of the findings based on their observations from samples collected in the Cakalli Karadag passage and Ladik Station areas.
Morphological Properties-
The morphological properties of the root include a root resembling a tap root which is 15-70cm in length with pale-brown hard bark present on the outer surface of the root.
The stem is generally 50-100 cm. tall and clearly rectangular in shape and maintains an erect orientation. It is ascending and branched toward the top.
The upper part of the stem is covered by glandular hair which contains the essential oil. The lower part of the stem is pubescent to hirsute. It is the hair which gives the stem its gray-white coloration. The leaves are simple, broad, and ovate to ovate- oblong.There is a presence of both glandular and eglandular hair present on both the upper and lower epidermis of the leaves. The venation is clear at the leaf and has
a single vein in the middle of the leaf. The venation is pinnate and the margins are crenate-erose. It has a petiole which is 3-9 cm. in length which also is paniculate, flowers are zygomorphic symmetric. Flowers are arranged verticillately on the plant and 2-6 flowers are present at the verticilares. The flowers are positioned at the base of the bracts. The pedicel is 2-3 mm. in length . The upper lip of the calyx is tridentate, mucronate and the lower lip is bidentate. The overall shape of the calyx is ovate campanulate. The calyx has both glandular and hard eglandular hairs. The corolla is 20-30 mm in length. The upper lip is lilac while the lower lip is cream in color. The lower part of the corolla tube is squamulate. The upper lip of the corolla has two lobules and is falcata in shape. Stamens are type B. The filament is 10-15 mm. in length and the anther is 2-4mm. long. The stigma is bifurcate and 15-35 mm. in length. Bracts are membranous, ovate, acuminate, and mauve in color. The bracts are approximately 15-35 x 10-25mm. It has nutlet type fruit and the seed are clear brown and rounded. The normal habitat for this species is rocky , igneous slopes at a height of 2000m. with mixed deciduous and coniferous woodlands, shale banks, and field roadsides.
Anatomical Properties-
In the root, the periderm rows are on the outer surface of the root. The cortex is multilayered and parenchymatic. These parenchymatic cells are 7-15 x12-50µ.
The cell size in the primary cortex is larger than that of the secondary cortex. There is primary xylem tissue in the pith. Secondary xylem rays are usually 1-3 layered though sometimes as much as 8 and are heterogenous. Primary xylem rays are 1-2 layered.
The stem has a single layered epidermis. Epidermal cells are either hexagonal or ovoidal. There are both glandular and eglandular hairs with glandular being
predominate. They are both unicellular and multicellular. Collenchyma are present particularly at the angle of the stem. The cortex is 5 layered and parenchymatic. Cortical cells are angular or ovoidal and measure 10-50 x 5-45µ. There is a sclerenchymatic sheath on the phloem part and the cambium is not distinguishable. The pith is large and consists of parenchymatic cells.
The leaf possesses a single layered epidermis on both the upper and lower leaf surfaces. The epidermal cells are irregular in shape . The cuticle of the leaf is 2.5-3µ in thickness. The stoma cells are present on both upper and lower epidermis. The leaf is bifacial. Palisade parenchyma cells are 2-3 layered and angular collenchyma cells surround the median vein. Both glandular and eglandular hairs are present on both upper and lower epidermal surfaces with the predominate being glandular. The glandular hair is unicellular and multicellular. The stoma type is diacytic.
The petiole is covered by ovoidal and hexagonal epidermal cells. These epidermal cells measure 4-25 x10-40µ in the abaxial surface and 5-38 x 10-40µ in the adaxial surface. There are a lot of glandular and eglandular hairs on the epidermal cells with the prevalent type being glandular. Eglandular hair is multicellular (1-6 cells) and the maximum length is 180 µ in length. Parenchymatic cortex is present under the epidermis. The cortex is 20-22 layered and there are two large vascular bundles on the median region of the petiole. A small bundle is also present near these bundles. The vascular bundles are of the collateral type.
Karyological Properties
The chromosome numbers are 2n=22. The 9th chromosome is submedian centromeric and all of the others chromosomes are median centomeric. The chromosome lengths are 0.2-16 µ with the longest arm being 1µ and the shortest being 0.1µ.Chromosomes of this specie are very small. There are no satellite karyotypes in this specie.
INDEX
© BOTRESEARCH USA 1998-2007
| 
