COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON TAXA OF MENTHA L. GENUS

The Mentha L. genus has many aromatic and medicinal taxa with a large area in our country. These taxa prefer flooded, swampy areas and wetlands, but they can also grow in moderate dry areas. Biochemical characteristics were obtained for 7 taxa from Mentha L. genus, wild or cultivated plants. The studies concerning the assimilative pigments, the hydric content, and the dry matter were determined for each vegetation stage. We used the gravimetric method for the hydric content and dry matter and the spectrophotometric method for estimation of the assimilative pigments. The results of the experiments are not the same for each taxon because of different harvesting periods and the ecological conditions of each taxon area.