Etherio, a new variety of Lavandula angustifolia with improved essential oil production and composition from natural selected genotypes growing in Greece

Lavender oil is a popular essential oil which unfortunately is not produced in any Greek region due to problems reported before from insufficient lavender cultivars or varieties used. The aim of the present study was to create a synthetic Lavandula angustifolia variety from native Greek plants which however present very well adaptation in local fields. Thirty native plants of L angustifolia from 10 different habitats were quantified and qualified for essential oil. The best two plants of each population were cross pollinated and the seeds came out from this pollination cultivated until new plants test again for oil quantity and quality. This cycle process was being repeated for 6 years until it resulted in a final plant genotype with high amount of essential oil. The essential oil yield reached under laboratory extraction 2.6% (w/fw) while under field steam distillation was 2.3%. The name of this synthetic variety is L angustifolia var. etherio and the major essential oil compounds are linalool 26.9% and linalyl acetate with 22.8%. L angustifolia var. etherio was reproduced by tissue culture and 2 ha of this variety are cultivated for 6 years now. The variety showed high transplantation degree, high adaptation, plant viability, rich flower production and high essential oil yield. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.