Study on some ecological characteristics, morphological traits and essential oil yield of Salvia leriifolia Benth.

Salvia leriifolia Benth. is one of the valuable medicinal plants of Lamiaceae. In order to evaluate genetic diversity among natural populations of Salvia leriifolia, 12 natural populations were chosen from South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and Semnan provinces. To study and evaluate 33 vegetative and reproductive morphological traits with five replications, 15 complete plants were collected from each locality at flowering and seeding stages. Flowering stems were used in order to extract the essential oil. Mean comparisons of data was performed by Duncan's multiple range test at 5% level of probability using SAS software. The populations were clustered by Ward method using SPSS software. Results showed that this plant grew well in a height of 1000-1533 above sea level, with an average temperature of 15-23ºcm and a precipitation of 80-194 mm in year. The most important morphological traits such as plant height, leaf length and width, were in the range of 18.9-35.8, 6.59-15.29 and 18.2- 29.7 cm, respectively. Maximum and minimum essential oil yield with 1.37 and 0.69 percent were obtained for Najmabad and Tabas Sabzevar, respectively. Populations of Salvia leriifolia were classified into three groups based upon collection locations. Results showed that "Najmabad" and "Bejestan" populations could be recommended for breeding and domestication programs because of appropriate morphological traits and abundant essential oil yield. Meanwhile, conservation of these populations is highly recommended.