Asexual propagation and ex situ conservation of Hypericum empetrifolium Willd. Subsp. empetrifolium (Hypericaceae), an East Mediterranean medicinal plant with ornamental value
Virginia Sarropoulou, Nikos Krigas, Katerina Grigoriadou and Eleni Maloupa
Hypericum empetrifolium subsp. empetrifolium is a medicinal plant of conservation concern and ornamental value restricted to Greece, Albania, Western Turkey and Cyrenaica in Libya. For vegetative propagation in mid-autumn, shoot tip softwood cuttings (5-6 cm) were immersed for 1 min in solutions of 4 IBA concentrations (0, 1000, 2000 and 4000 mg L-1). Cuttings were placed in propagation trays in a peat: perlite (1:3) substrate, under mist. For in vitro propagation, shoot tips explants were cultured in MS medium. The effect of BA alone and combined with auxins on shoot proliferation was studied. For in vitro rooting, different auxins (IBA, NAA, IAA) applied at different concentrations were tested. Highest rooting percentage for cuttings was noticed when using 1000 mg L-1 IBA (17.17 roots 2.84 cm long, 85.71% rooting) (6 weeks). The 0.1 mg L-1 BA + 0.01 mg L-1 IBA hormonal combination was the best for in vitro shoot proliferation, yielding 5.5 shoots/explant, 100% shoot formation and 5.42 shoot proliferation rate (4 weeks). Rooting in vitro was optimum with 0.1 mg L-1 IBA (3.22 roots 1.05 cm long, 56.25% rooting) (5 weeks). Acclimatization of rooted vitroplants was successful exhibiting survival rate up to 90%.
Virginia Sarropoulou, Nikos Krigas, Katerina Grigoriadou, Eleni Maloupa. Asexual propagation and ex situ conservation of Hypericum empetrifolium Willd. Subsp. empetrifolium (Hypericaceae), an East Mediterranean medicinal plant with ornamental value. J Med Plants Stud 2018;6(6):235-241.