The genus Artemisia L. of the family Asteraceae is systematically very complex. The aim of this study was to evaluate taxonomic positions of taxa of the subgenus Artemisia belonging to the genus Artemisia in Turkey using some molecular techniques. In this molecular study, 44 individuals belong to 14 species of the subgenus Artemisia were examined. Analyses were performed on the combined dataset using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference and Molecular parameters obtained from co-evaluations of sequences of the psbA-trnH, ITS and ETS regions of examined individuals were used in the phylogenetic tree drawing. According to the results of this study, two molecular groups have been formed based on the DNA sequence similarity of the species, but there are no obvious morphological characters corresponding to two molecular groups. There is no also agreement between the two molecular groups and the two morphological groups formed according to the hairiness condition of the receptacle of species. Due to the lack of molecular significance of their receptacles with or without hair, dividing of the subgenus Artemisia species into new subgenera or sections was not considered appropriate. Likewise, it has been found that with or without hair on the corolla lobes of the central hermaphrodite disc flowers have no molecular significance. It was found that there were no gene flow and hybridization between the 14 species of the subgenus Artemisia and these 14 species were found completed their speciation. This study is important as it is the first molecular based study relating with belong to subgenus Artemisia species growing naturally in Turkey. In addition, new haplotypes related to the populations of Turkey belonging to the subgenus Artemisia taxa were reported by us for the first time and added to the GenBank database.

Artemisia is one of the biggest genera in the family Asteraceae, with around 500-600 taxa at specific and sub-specific levels and organised in 5 subgenera. Due to the high number of taxa, a lot taxonomists are trying to solve the problem of its classification and phylogeny but its natural classification still hasn’t been achieved. In this research, 60 individuals belonging to 4 taxa of the subgenus Dracunculus of Artemisia L. in Turkey were examined. For all the examined individuals from both the same and different populations belonging to the taxa of the subgenus Dracunculus, the sequences of the regions both psbA-trnH of chloroplast DNA and ITS of nuclear DNA were determined. Also, the gene regions obtained were recorded in the NCBI GenBank database and an accession number was taken. It was found that there was no gene flow and hybridization between the four studied taxa of the subgenus Dracunculus, and these 4 taxa also completed their speciation. According to the results of this molecular study, A. campestris var. campestris, A. campestris var. marschalliana and A. campestris var. araratica were proposed to be raised from the variety level to the species level. This research is important as it is the first molecular based study relating with the subgenus Dracunculus growing in Turkey.

In this study, essential oil components of the Veratrum album L. and the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of these components were determined. The chemical composition of the essential oils of dried aerial parts of V. album was analyzed using GC and GC-MS. Antimicrobial activity was determined with the disk diffusion method. Total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS) and 2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity were detected for the antioxidant activity of the plant. According to the analysis results, the major essential oil components of the V. album were determined as hexacosane (39.5%), myristic (tetradecanoic) acid (22.8%), heptane (6.5%), anethole (4.9%) and 1,8- cineole (4.8%). The findings showed that the methanol extracts of the stem and leaf parts of the plant inhibited the growth of pathogenic microorganisms at different rates (14±0.1 - 34±0.3 mm). The TAS values of methanol extracts of stem and leaf parts of V. album were calculated as 3.75±0.07 and 3.91±0.01 mmol, while TOS values were calculated as 6.14±0.13 and 6.54±0.05 μmol. The scavenging activity of the DPPH radical increased depending on increasing concentrations of the plant extract.

Artemisia is one of the biggest genera in the family Asteraceae, with around 500-600 taxa at specific and sub-specific levels and organised in five subgenera. Due to the high number of taxa, a lot taxonomists are trying to solve the problem of its classification and phylogeny but its natural classification still has not been achieved.The aim of this study is to try to solve the problematic systematic relationship between three different Artemisia species growing in close proximity to each other in the light of morphological, karyological and molecular data.The roots, stems, leaves, flowers structures of the plant samples collected from different populations belong to these species were investigated within the framework of morphological studies. Additionally, the chromosome counts and karyotype analysises of these species were made and idiograms were drawn in the karyological studies. In the context of phylogenetic studies, ITS and trn regions of 22 individuals belonging to 3 taxa were studied. It has been found that there is complete speciation genetic isolation mechanism between the species A. spicigera, A. taurica and A. fragrans that inhibit gene flow. A. fragrans and A. spicigera species are very similar to each other in terms of morphological characteristics. However, since populations of the species a fragrans are otopolyploid, the dimensional values of their morphological squares are larger than those of the species A. spicigera.This study is important as it is the first molecular based study relating with some species of Artemisia growing naturally in Turkey.

This study aims to determine the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of essential oil components and methanol extracts of Fumaria asepala Boiss. (Akşahtere) and Fumaria schleicheri Soy.-Will. subsp. microcarpa Hausskn. (Şahtere) species grown in Turkey. While essential oils were isolated by the hydrodistillation method, the analysis of these oils was determined by GC/MS device. According to the results obtained, the main component of the essential oil of F. asepala is Phytol (20.74%), followed by Thymol (20.42%), Benzyl Benzoate (15.89%), and Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (12.92%); It was determined that the main component of the essential oil of F. schleicheri subsp. microcarpa is Benzyl Benzoate (29.07%), followed by Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (19.72%), n-Hexadecanoic acid (11.40%) and Phytol (10.04%). The disk diffusion method was used to determine its antimicrobial effects. The above-ground parts of F. schleicheri subsp. microcarpa showed the best antimicrobial effect against K. pneumoniae-ATCC 700603 (25mm), while F. asepala showed the best antimicrobial effect against S. aureus-ATCC 25923 (24mm) and K. pneumoniae (24mm). To determine their antioxidant effects, total antioxidant level (TAS) and total oxidant level (TOS) were determined. It was determined that the TAS value of the methanol extract of F. schleicheri subsp. microcarpa at a concentration of 1 mg/ml was 2.8314 mmol, and the TOS value of F. asepala was 3.1610 mmol at the same concentration. It was determined that the total oxidant levels in both species were high.

The genus Lallemantia (Lamiaceae) is popularly known as "Dragonhead". The genus, which has been proven to have extremely rich compounds, is used in the treatment of many diseases among the people. The genus is represented by 5 taxa in the world and 3 taxa are naturally distributed in Türkiye. In this study, the cytotoxic properties of methanolic extracts of the above-ground parts of Lallemantia peltata, Lallemantia iberica and Lallemantia canescens taxa were investigated against BEAS-2B, SH-SY5Y, HCT 116 and Hep G2 cell lines. Changes in the viability of cancer cells were determined using the MTT method. The results showed that all three species had varying degrees of cytotoxic effect. This effect was maximum in L. canescens with 53.54% (p