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TAXONOMY STUDY OF SOME MEMBERS OF LAMIACEAE THROUGH MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND EFFECTS ON GENERAL CONDITION OF THE HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera L.)

Salama A.S. and El-Shabasy A.*

This study illustrated the differentiation among some selected members of Lamiaceae family; Lavandula coronopifola, Ocimum basilicum, Ocimum filamentosum, Orthosiphon thymiflorus, Otostegia fruticosa and Plectranthus asirensis according to morphological characters and the effects of plant extracts on some selected parameters describing the general condition of honeybees Apis mellifera L. like body weights, head weights, head diameters, pharyngeal gland conditions (acini number and canal diameter). Whole plant species were extracted in distilled water. Three cages were used with 100 workers per one. Bees fed on sugar syrup with plant extracts during 12 and 18 days. There were plant species which promoted the physiological conditions of bees but other inhibited them. Similarity matrix and cluster analysis were constructed. Ocimum basilicum and Ocimum filamentosum were close to each other while Otostegia fruticosa and Plectranthus asirensis were distantly related to each other.