A study on the In Vitro propagation of Verbascum leptocladum endemic to the flora of Antalya

The genus Verbascum L., commonly known as "Mullein" in Anatolia, is one of the most prevalent genera in the Scrophulariaceae family. Mullein (Verbascum spp.), which has been used in traditional medicine for many years, includes a species called Verbascum leptocladum, which is endemic to the Antalya region. The distribution of Verbascum leptocladum in Turkey is quite limited; it is classified in the R category in the literature and is among the endangered species. There are a limited number of studies on this species in the literature, and no study has been found that applied any plant tissue culture technique. This master's thesis aims to develop a plant tissue culture protocol for the endangered species Verbascum leptocladum and propagate the plant in vitro using micropropagation methods. In this context, experiments were carried out in environments containing different concentrations of cytokinin and auxin to obtain the highest number of shoots in micropropagation. The highest number of shoots was obtained from the MS medium containing 2 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L NAA. Plants rooted in tissue culture have been successfully acclimated to external conditions, resulting in flowering plants under greenhouse conditions.