modern research physics

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Salvia L. is one of the important genera of the Lamiaceae family, that most of its species have nutritious and medicinal values. This study aimed to examine the total phenol and flavonoid contents and the antioxidant activities of S. aethiopis using spectrophotometric method. The essential oil of this species was analyzed using GC and GC/MS methods. In addition, antibacterial activities of the essential oil and methanolic extract were evaluated against six gram positive and negative bacteria, respectively. Results showed that the extract has high content of phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity. From GC analysis, 11 different compounds were indentified in which &alpha-copaene was the most abundant compound with 33.48%. The extract of the species showed a high antibacterial activity against Proteus vulgaris. However, the essential oil of S. aethiopis had no effect on examined bacteria.

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In this research, plant morphology and pollen morphology of 14 populations of 3 species belonging to two sections Plethiosphace and Hemisphace of Salvia genus in Iran were studied. In morphological study 25 quantitative and qualitative characters were investigated and results of this study clearly separated species into two groups. The pollen grains from the herbarium specimens were prepared by acetolysis method and then 4 quantitative characters were examined by light microscopy. Data analysis was carried out by principal component analysis method. Results of the study showed that although the pollen grains in the section are comparatively homogenous and all of them are 6-colpate with reticulate ornamentation, but show a considerable variation in studied quantitative characters. However among the studied characters, equatorial and polar diameters of pollen grains are the most significant characters and based of these characters the members of these sections can be divided into two groups based on these characters that confirmed the results of morphology.