In vitro propagation of rare species Ruscus aculeatus L. and histological peculiarities of the regenerants

The present study belongs to the international efforts for plant conservation in the areas endangered by human activities. Ruscus aculeatus L. is one of the threatened plants (included in all national red list of vascular plants from Romania) that grow in the Natural Park Comana, Southern Romania.Seedlings and fragments of rhizome, from plants grown in the natural habitat have been used for in vitro plant regeneration and multiplication. After successfully rooting and acclimatization of the regenerated plantlets, histological studies have been performed in order to compare the regenerants from in vitro cultures with plants from natural habitat. The results indicated that this plant species can be multiplicated, rooted and acclimatized on synthetic medium (MS supplemented with NAA, IBA, kinetin and BAP) with a good efficiency and the regenerants develop a only a few structural modification under vitroculture conditions, with no major consequences for a normal physiology and plant acclimatization.