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Re: What is Turkestani Oregano?/building Origanum web pages

Sean,
Diane Kothe, a volunteer at the Univ. of Calif. Botanical Garden, has been
growing oreganos for many years, and has been lecturing on them locally
w/pictures.
She works with Jerry Parsons, a museum horticulturist there, giving
classes on herb propagation and care. You can send a letter to her & Jerry
at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA 94720; or via
inter-campus mail.
Elly Bade
 
 On Wed, 20 May 1998, Sean A. O'Hara wrote:

> At 09:01 AM 5/20/98 -0500, William M. Groth wrote:
> >Hello Gerry and others on Medit-Plants,
> >
> >I have actually gotten some feed back which included two different
> scientific 
> >names for the species (or two different spellings?).  The two I have heard 
> >about are Richters has Turkestani Oregano (Origanum tyttanticum) and
> >another nursery has an Khirgizstan Oregano which is listed as Origanum
> >tyttanthum 
> >(Khirgizstan).  The spelling of tyttanticum vs tyttanthum makes me
> suspicious 
> >and I feel that these may very well be the same species of plant and I don't 
> >know which is the proper spelling.  Does anyone know if we are dealing with 
> >one or two species of plants?
> 
> This thread got my attention as I had plans to compile information about
> Origanums for a web page on the Medit-Plants site.  Some initial
> inquiries seem to indicate that the plant sold as O. tytanthum (as well as
> O. tyttanticum, I assume) are more accurately O. vulgare gracile.  One
> of the 'true' culinary Oreganos is O. vulgare hirtum, so I imagine that
> other subspecies are also useful in this respect.  There is tremendous
> confusion among this group of plants, perhaps because of the similarities,
> tendency to hybridize with other species, and the causal manner in which
> herbalist and culinary types classify them.  It seems clear that the two
> names in question (Turkestani & Khirgizstan), being regional in nature,
> indicate from where the plant entered our western trade.  Local people
> in those regions no doubt merely refer to them as (their equivalent of)
> 'oregano', the descriptive term being ours, not theirs.
> 
> Some details I currently have regarding O. vulgare gracile are 2ft tall,
> pink flowers, mild in flavor, more attractive in form than regular
> oregano.  The descriptions put forth on this forum seem to concur with
> these.
> 
> Anyway, I am in contact with Art Tucker regarding this, and have the
> good fortune of some world-class libraries in my local community, some
> of which are already assisting me in gathering some information on this
> genus.  Apparently Art co-authored many articles with our late Betty
> Rollins.  And I have been referred to the revision of this genus by Dr.
> Ietswaart (1980) which is what Art & Betty used as the basis of their
> identifications.  If anyone out there is growing interesting or unusual
> forms of Origanum, perhaps they might send me some photos of these
> plants shown to advantage, which I can pair together with the information
> being gathered for the web page.  Photos depicting well grown specimens
> in good flower, perhaps attractive potted or grouped with companion
> plants or handsome hardscape/architecture are especially desired.  All
> appropriate acknowledgement will be provided with their inclusion.
> 
> BTW - some of the plants used in commercial 'Oregano' mixtures are:
> CORIDOTHYMUS CAPITATUS, ORIGANUM HERACLEOTICUM, ORIGANUM VULGARE HIRTUM,
> & THYMUS MASTICHINA.
> 
> 
> 
>  Sean A. O'Hara                     sean.ohara@ucop.edu
>  710 Jean Street                    (510) 987-0577
>  Oakland, California 94610-1459     h o r t u l u s   a p t u s
>  U.S.A.                             'a garden suited to its purpose'
>
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