ABSTRACT
The name oregano is derived from the Greek oros meaning ‘mountain’ and ganos meaning ‘joy’. The plant grows wild in the mountains of Greece and is commonly called wild marjoram. The Greeks used it as a poultice for wounds, and Pliny recommended it for scorpion and spider bites. The colonists brought it to America, where it escaped into the wild. Records on the use of oregano date back thousands of years: the famous ‘hyssop’, mentioned in the bible, is believed to be an Origanum syriakum L. plant (Hepper, 1987).
