Acta Hortic. 1242. ISHS 2019. DOI 10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1242.85 Proc. III Int. Symp. on Horticulture in Europe – SHE2016 Eds.: P. Kalaitzis et al. 581 Micropropogation of Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham B. Sevindik 1 , M. Tü tü ncü 2 , T. Iİzgü 3 , E.M. Tagipur 4 , P. Çü rü k 1 , G. Kaynak 5 , OÖ . Yilmaz 5 and Y.Y. Mendi 1 1 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Çukurova, 01330, Balcalı, Adana, Turkey; 2 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ondokuz Mayıs, 55101, Samsun, Turkey; 3 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ege, Bornova, Iİzmir, 35040, Turkey; 4 Institute of Nature and Applied Science, Department of Biotechnology, University of Çukurova, 01330, Balcalı, Adana, Turkey; 5 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Art, Uludag University, 16059, Bursa, Turkey. Abstract Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham is known as a medicinal and aromatic plant. Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham is a plant which is endemic to Turkey and a threatened species in the Labiateae family. This species is used in folk medicine since ancient times. Micropropogation is an alternative method for rapid clonal propogation. In this study, Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham was micropropagated using MS media containing different combinations of plant growth regulators; BA (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg L -1 ) and GA3 (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg L -1 ) for propagation, IBA (indole-3-butyric acid) 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg L -1 ) for rooting. The MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L -1 BA and 0.2 mg L -1 GA3 (giberellic acid) showed highest percentage of shoot multiplication and rooted with 85.5 and 79.5% response from shoot tip explant, respectively. Keywords: Lamiaceae, in vitro, tissue culture, BA, GA3 INTRODUCTION Sideritis is a genus belonging to the Lamiacea family, represented by 54 species in Turkey and 40 of them are endemic (Yavuz, 2016). Sideritis sp., chiefly annual and perennial shrubs, prevalently spread over the Mediterranean basin and grown in calcicolous, heliophilous dry and semi-arid soil (Shtereva et al., 2015). Due to its carminative, anti- inflammatory, antispasmodic, analgesic, sedative, antitussive, stomachic properties this genus has wide usage in folk medicine and its known as mountain tea in Turkey (Çördü k and Akı, 2011). The most important secondary metabolites of the Sideritis genus are monoterpens (α- pinene, β-pinene, Δ 3 carene,p-cymene, limonene, fenchone) and sesquiterpens (α-copaene, β- caryophyllene, α-curcumene) (Sánchez-Gras and Segura, 1997). In vitro regeneration studies, especially micropropagation is one of the effective methods for preserving genetic resources that are under threat of extinction (Izgu et al., 2016). Tissue culture provides advantages for rapid clonal propagation and it can be useful to obtain a high number of plants from shoot meristems and nodes with the effect of plant growth regulators (PGRs). In this study we aimed to develop an efficient micropropagation protocol for Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham. Although there are many reports about micropropagation of some different Sideritis species (Sánchez-Gras and Segura 1987, 1988; Garcia-Granados et al., 1994; Faria et al., 1998; Çördü k and Akı, 2011; Nianiou-Obeidat and Iconomou-Petrovich, 1998; Shtereva et al., 2015; Sarropoulou and Maloupa, 2015; Yavuz, 2016), this paper is the first report for in vitro propagation of Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham. MATERIAL AND METHODS Plant material In total 400 Sideritis pisidica Boiss. et Heldr. Apud Bentham seeds were obtained from plants, grown naturally on Uludağ mountain (NW Turkey, 40°05’27.55”N; 29°10’26.26”E,