A Study on In Situ Variability of Leucas Lavandulifolia SM. in North Kerala, India

Abstract

Variability and diversity of the medicinal plant Leucas lavandulifolia Sm. in its natural habitats in Kerala was analyzed based on the observations on eleven salient morphological characters recorded from thirty populations of the species distributed across Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts of Kerala state, India. All the eleven characters studied such as plant height, number of branches per plant, length of branches, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf area, internodal length, number of inflorescences per plant, number of flowers per inflorescence and fresh weight of plants showed statistically significant variations between the populations. The interrelationship between the characters and their association was also studied. Number of inflorescences per plant showed significant positive correlation with maximum number of characters. By factor analysis based on the characters studied, three factors could be extracted and leaf breadth, length of branches and number of leaves per plant were found to be the lead characters. Significant variability with regard to morphological characters indicates the strong genetic base of the plant species in the field. However, drastic alterations in its habitat for various reasons can pose serious threat to its survival and hence measures to protect and conserve the natural habitats of this species are essential.