Diversity of medicinal plant species grown in the greenhouse of Kaunas Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University

Ona Ragažinskienė, Judita Varkulevičienė, Antanina Stankevičienė

Kaunas Botanical Garden, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Key words: medicinal plants, greenhouses, taxonomical analysis.

Summary. Collections of ornamental plants, as the object of the research, have been accumulated since 1924 in Kaunas Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University. Plants are grown in six sections of the greenhouse following the geographic-climatic principle. It is also used for educational purposes in order to introduce students and public with plant world and the variety of its species. According to the data of taxonomical analysis made in 2002–2004 it was estimated that in the sections of the greenhouse there are grown 110 species of medicinal plants belonging to 83 genera, 56 families, 7 subclasses, 6 classes and to 3 divisions. The division Magnoliophyta is the largest of number of taxons: 2 classes, 7 subclasses, 50 families, 77 genus and 104 species. The number of plant species in 56 families of medicinal plants differs: the biggest (5–8 species) is in two families, the lowest (1–2 species) – in 41 and medium (3–4 species) in 13 families. Medicinal plants make 15% of all plant species grown in the greenhouse. According to the using these plants are: oil, aromatic, dye-stuff, ornamental, resiniferous, food, timber, melliferous, fibrous, spice, saponin, stimulating, tannin-bearing and technical.

Correspondence to O. Ragažinskienė, Kaunas Botanical Garden, Vytautas Magnus University, Ž. E. Žilibero 6, 46324 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: o.ragazinskiene@bs.vdu.lt

Received 6 April 2004, accepted 31 May 2004