Taxonomically investigating of species (Endemic) Sideritis vulcanica Hub. Mor. (Lamiaceae)

In this study, naturally grown in Elazığ region, endemic species Sideritis vulcanica Hub.- Mor. (Lamiaceae) which are belong to the section Empedoclia (Rafin) Bentham of Sideritis L. genus has been taxonomically examined. The species, in terms of morphological, morphometric, anatomical, karyological, palynological and essential oil features has been investigated. The structures of root, leaves, bracts, flower and nutlet the plant samples that were collected belong to the species have been investigated within the framework of morphological studies. The morfological characters have been compared with Flora of Turkey and determined new morphological characters. In the anatomical studies the anatomies of the root, stem, cauline leaf and basal leaf have been enlightened. In karyological studies, chromosome counts and karyotype analyses of the species have been done and idyograms have been generated. The chromosome number of S. vulcanica has been found as 2n=32 (X=16). It has been determined that the chromosomes are median region (m) and submedian (sm) centromeres. In palynological studies, the shape of the pollen of S. vulcanica has been found as oblate-spheroidal. It has been determined that the polen aperture is trizonocolpate and ornamentation is reticulate. In chemical studies, hydro-distilled essential oils derived from the aerial parts of S. vulcanica have been analysed by GC and GC-MS system. The essential oil yield of the plant has been determined as 0.1-0.2 ml. Totally 38 constituents have been identified. The total amount of the oil in the defined this constituents is %98.9. The main components have been characterized as Thymol (%67), p- cymene (%10) and ?- terpinene (%5.5) for S. vulcanica. Consequently, some new characters have been determined and have been contributed to the systematic of the species under the light of new findings. Key Words: Sideritis, Sideritis vulcanica, Lamiaceae, Morphology, Anatomy, Palynology, Essential Oil, Karyology, Chromosome number, Cytotaxonomy, Karyotype, Mountain tea