Representatives of the vast family Lamiaceae, and formerly Labioceae, are ubiquitous on Earth - in the temperate latitudes of Europe, on the Asian continent, in the tropical and subtropical zones of Central and South America.
The Mediterranean countries, the mountainous regions of the American continent and the plains of Eurasia are famous for a special variety of plants of the family, but in the Arctic tundra it is a rare luck to meet a plant of labiaceae. We learn more about the characteristic features of representatives of this wonderful family.
The most common types and their application
The Yasnotkovye family, rightfully considered a cosmopolitan plant kingdom, unites 221 genus and more than 6 thousand species of plants. Most of them are wild, but representatives of 65 genera are used in decorative gardening and even in industrial production. Many plants of the family Yasnatkovye are valuable essential oil crops that have found application in culinary, medicine, food and perfume industries. These are plants such as lemon balm, mint, lavender, oregano, basil, thyme and many other crops. Some representatives of labiaceae contain dyes.
Different sources inform the reader about the different number of species of the family. We will not specify their number, we only note that there are really a lot of varieties of these plants. But all of them are distinguished by amazing endurance and excellent adaptability in the proposed, often very harsh conditions. That is why they are common in temperate and tropical latitudes, i.e., in areas with polar different climatic features.
Family Lamiaceae: General Description
Most members of the family are herbaceous one-, two-, or perennials, less commonly shrubs and shrubs. Treelike forms (trees or creepers) are extremely rare, there are very few of them.
The family of the clear-headed is distinguished by the shape of the stems - pronounced tetrahedral. Well-noticeable faces in some species are slightly rounded, convex or, conversely, concave. In different species, the stems are different: erect or creeping, but they are all able to perfectly root in nodes.
The main root is often preserved throughout the life of the culture or dies, being replaced by subordinate clauses. Root rhizomes are formed in some representatives of the cryptococcus, in others, root offspring.
The leaves are whole or dissected, in some species - noticeably pubescent. Stipules absent. They are located on the shoots in pairs, opposite each other, each pair of leaves is located crosswise relative to the previous and subsequent pairs. The Yasnotkovye family is also distinguished by the fact that most of its representatives contain essential oils in the leaves. That is why the leaves of the labiate have a bright smell.
Flowers
The original name was labrumous due to the external similarity of a flower with an open pharynx framed by two lips - the upper and lower. In some species, they are divided into several blades. The flowers are small, five-membered, bisexual, less often along with bisexual flowers are found only female and very rarely - only male. Their color is diverse: pink, lilac-lilac, yellowish, white or variegated. They are formed in the axils of leaves, ordinary or superior, modified and shaped bracts. They are single, paired or collected in sparse inflorescences on short petioles. Each pair of inflorescences is in contact with subsequent flowers and forms a kind of false flower ring.
With the close proximity of such rings in the apical part of the shoot, a beautiful false ear, brush or panicle is formed. The upper leaves of the shoot gradually decrease in size and take the form of bracts. Characteristic false ears can be observed in nettles, mint, catnip, lemon balm, etc.
Flower structure
The calyx is usually five-toothed, bell-shaped, leaf-leaved, and remains with a ripened fruit. By the time the fruit ripens, it hardens, and the teeth become prickly. Occasionally, depending on the type, the cup is two-lipped. Corolla - a tube ending in various variations. The abundance of species gives rise to different forms of corollas. For instance:
• With a double-edged bend. The upper lip is formed by 2 fused petals, and the lower lip is formed by 3. The middle part of the lower lip is often bi-notched. Nettle, sage, pikulnik like corollas.
• One-lipped or not full-lipped, for example, at a baton.
• Cropped (near peppermint).
The usual number of stamens is 4, they are attached to the corolla tube, 2 of them are usually longer than the other two. They can hide under a concave upper lip or stand out if the corolla is cropped or not full-lip. Some species have only 2 stamens. Some species are equipped with a short pestle extending between the lobes of a 4- or 5-lobed ovary. For pollination, the Yasnotkovye family uses a column, which is a split stigma in two. It attracts insects, but prevents self-pollination. A pronounced owner of such a device is sage. The ripened fruit freely breaks up into 4 single-seed nuts.
It has been established that the Lamiaceae with an undeveloped corolla and prominent stamens are prevalent mainly in the east of Europe, in Asia, in the northern regions of Africa and America. Probably the same is the distribution of pollinating insects. Such is the general characteristic of the family Iasnatkovye, it remains only to find out the features of the formation of the fruits of these plants.
Fruit
The fruit, the so-called coenobium, immersed in a cup, fractional, most often consists of four chambers, evenly developed parts with nut-shaped seeds. In case of possible underdevelopment, the number of chambers may be less than 1 or 3. So, the clear fruit is typical for the clear-cut ones, by definition they cannot have a box fruit or berries.
Iasnatkovye family: representatives
The generosity of nature, which ensured the diversity of the genera and species united in this family, is amazing. We owe it to her that these plants are known all over the world. Here is an incomplete list of the clans that make up the family Iasnotkovye:
• agastash (hyssop Mexican);
• snakehead;
• picnic;
• clover;
• lavender;
• motherwort;
• lemon balm;
• mint;
• basil;
• oregano;
• railings.
Finally
All of these, as well as representatives of various genera of the family not mentioned in the publication, are magnificent plants that have served humanity for many centuries.
And it does not matter that some of them have long been cultivated and bring considerable benefits, giving essential oils and rare dyes, while others are common exclusively in the wild, decorating taiga glades and mountainous slopes with their discreet beauty.