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description
Lamiaceae (formerly known as Labiatae) is a large plant family of mostly shrubs and herbs. It is the largest family of the order Lamiales with 236 genera and more than 7,000 species, the largest genus being Salvia with around 900 species. Lamiaceae species are distributed globally and a particularly high concentration of them occurs in the Mediterranean region. The majority of Lamiaceae being aromatic plants, the family is economically important. Many are cultivated as ornamentals, like Ajuga, Coleus, and Salvia but others are widely used as culinary herbs and spices, such as sage (Salvia), thyme (Thymus), mint (Mentha), oregano or marjoram (Origanum), rosemary (Rosmarinus), lavender (Lavandula), and basil (Ocimum).
Mint and lavender are grown for their oil used in perfumery, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food industries as active ingredients or as flavour and fragrance (Khoury et al., 2016).
The Labiatae is rich in essential oil-bearing plants which contain a variety of mono-, sequi- and diterpenes. Iridoids, triterpenoids, flavonoids and others were also isolated from species of this family (Rizk, 1986).
Genera Count
represented in egypt with Genera
Species
represented in egypt with Species
Twenty-seven species of 17 genera of the Labiatae family growing in Moldavia were examined. Diterpenoids were characteristic for genera of the tribe Marrubieae; triterpenoids were typical of genera of the tribe Saturejeae. All plants contained phytol and phytosterols in comparable amounts (Popa et al., 1976).
All 26 species studied of wild Micromeria, Satureja, Calamintha, Teucrium and Acinos genera occurring in Yugoslavia were found to contain essential oils, tannins, and flavonoids (Pavlovic et al., 1983). Seeds of 194 species in 56 genera of Labiatae, representing 6 of the 8 subfamilies, were analyzed for oil and protein and for fatty acid composition of the oil.
The oils are diverse and include some that contain up to 70% oleic acid, 79% linoleic acid, or 72% linolenic acid. An allenic function occurs in 1/3 of the samples from the subfamily Stachyoideae and in the one sample analyzed from the Prasioideae. Oils from 2 Lamium species have both allenic and trans unsaturation.
Two species of Thymus appear to produce hydroxy acids (Hagemann et al., 1967). Free acids of neutral lipids of seeds of Labiatae species studied, by…
Historically, species of the family Lamiaceae (Labiatae) have enjoyed a rich traditional use for flavouring, food preservation and medicinal purposes, due to both their curative and their preventive properties.
Their value lays in the production of a wide range of secondary metabolites with potent antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer activities.
Lamiaceae species are mainly used against gastrointestinal disorders and microbial infections. There are several reviews on the constituents, traditional uses and pharmacological activities of plants of this family…
- Ajuga
- Ballota
- Clerodendrum
- Eremostachys
- Lallemantia
- Lamium
- Lavandula
- Leucas
- Marrubium
- Mentha
- Micromeria
- Nepeta
- Ocimum
- Origanum
- Otostegia
- Phlomis
- Prasium
- Salvia
- Stachys
- Teucrium
- Thymus
- Ziziphora
location
egypt