SEED GERMINATION AND ESSENTIAL OIL OF LAVANDULA LUISIERI FROM CENTRAL EASTERN PORTUGAL

Lavandula luisieri (Rozeira) Rivas-Martínez is an endemic plant from the Iberian Peninsula which belongs to the Lamiaceae family. L.luisieri, Genista falcata Brot. and Lavandula pedunculata (Miller) Cav. ssp. sampaiana (Rozeira) Franco can be found together in some regions of Central Eastern Portugal where old vegetation of meso-mediterranean communities occurs. Relevant aspects of L. luisieri species such as 1 - two new important products in its essential oil; 2 - the importance of its honey; 3 – this crop improvement; 4 - the ornamental interest in its use in Mediterranean gardens; and 5 - the difficulty of its seeds germination; are the main aspects of our study on seed germination and the identification of the essential oils compounds. Seed germination of four populations collected in different locations in Central Eastern Portugal and of two different maturation dates were compared. Seed germination experiments in laboratory (40 and 75 days after the harvest) were carried out using a constant temperature (25ºC) and an alternating regime (8/18ºC) with a photoperiod of 8 hours and another with a photoperiod of 16 hours. The results show significant differences in the seed germination proceeding of the four populations. Some components identified in essential oils were irregular monoterpenoids with a cyclopentanic structure unique in the plant kingdom.