RESEARCH REGARDING THE MELLIFEROUS CHARACTHERISTICS OF LABIATES FROM XEROPHILE MEADOWS FROM DANUBE VALLEY

Abstract

The xerophile meadows in the Danube Valley are dry meadows, located at a great
distance from the Danube and with underground waters at greater depth. Their
floral composition is characterized by a small number of species pertaining to both
mezoxerophiles and to xerophiles, yet the highest percentage is covered by xerophile
species, which are characterized by their small foliage surface, the very narrow and
tough limb, and acute porosity etc.In the floral composition of these species, the
graminaceae species are best represented, followed by leguminous and lamiaceae,
known in beekeeping as good honey plants. Thus, the researches carried out have
shown that Lamiaceae species have a good participation, with variation limits
raging from 15% to 50-60%. Leguminous species are represented less on xerophile
meadows than in hidrophile meadows. Among these we mention: Lotus corniculatus
L., Trifolium repens L. şi Medicago lupulina L., all these species being known in
beekeeping as good honey plants. Among gramineae species the most
representatives are: Lolium perene L. and Poa pratensis L., yet with no melliferous
value. Likewise, the group of „various” plants varied a lot as participation in the
structure of the vegetal cover of xerophile meadows, depending on the place of
research, all these species having no melliferous value. The current paper describes
the results o biometric and melliferous researches carried out over the period 2003-
2005 on 5 plant species pertaining to the Lamiaceae family, namely: Salvia
nemerosa L. – sage; Salvia pratensis L. – meadow sage; Marrubium vulgare L. –
horehound;Lamium purpureum L. – purple deatnettle;Lamium amplexicaule L. –
henbit deadnettle.