ABSTRACT
Due to its multipurpose use as kitchen herb, in the food as well as in the flavour industry the demand on oregano has grown tremendously within recent years and is still increasing (Verlet, 1994; Olivier, 1997). Nevertheless, most of the so called “Greek Oregano” (oregano from Origanum sp.) is still gathered from the wild exceeding 10 000 tons crude drug per year. To avoid a threatening overexploitation even of a species as widely distributed in the Mediterranean as oregano and to improve the market supply, efforts have been made to introduce oregano into systematic cultivation. This was successfully done during the last decade in Turkey, Greece, France and Italy, and large scale field production was established furthermore in Israel, Chile, Argentina and China. Since Origanum sp. shows a high biodiversity especially also regarding phytochemical characters, the question arises which oregano is grown for which purpose based on which specifications.
