Exploitation of native Labiatae in Sicily

Abstract

The family Labiatae is extremely rich in genera and species, and many of them are native to Mediterranean environments. In Sicily, a great interest is devoted since ancient times to their cultivation and use, and they are traditionally used for a great deal of purposes, from cookery to phytotherapy. When their cultivation is addressed to their traditional purposes (as spices, savory herbs or herbal medicines), the major aspects of their cropping technique are well established. However, there are two many reason why their traditional cropping technique should be deeply reviewed. First, many of their productive steps (from sowing to harvest) require a great deal of manpower, and the enhancement of production costs due to this constraint does not allow the Sicilian product to have competitive prices on global market. Second, the newest tendencies of chemical industry suggest for many native Labiatae a great deal of new fields of use, that require the cultivation to be carried on with different objectives and therefore with different methods. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of research concerning the most interesting Labiatae native to the Sicilian environments, also underlying the constraints and challenges related to their full exploitations in such areas.