A historical sample of marjoram (Origanum majorana L., Lamiaceae), more than 60 years old, was analysed and its composition compared to standard material from the European herb market. By using a solvent extract of the historical sample, the rearrangements and artefact formation usually occurring during the distillation of marjoram were avoided. The extract contained high amounts of terpinen-4-ol, thus resembling the distilled essential oil more than the solvent extract of the standard sample. So artefact formation in marjoram can also happen in planta in herbs stored for a long time under suboptimal conditions. The high content of carvacrol, normally never present in standard material from cultivation, gave an indication of the heterogeneity of marjoram in former times, and confirmed the opinion that (cultivated) marjoram is a chemovariety selected a long time ago.

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For the selection of donors with valuable characteristics for breeding, 39 thyme accessions were evaluated in three years according to a staggered schedule. The criteria investigated were: winter hardiness, beginning of flowering, growth height, yield of the dry herb, content of essential oil, composition of the essential oil, DNA content of cell nuclei and number of chromosomes. The most strongly varying traits between the populations were the yield of dry herb, the content of essential oil and the content of volatile phenols with coefficients of variation (CV) between CV 40% and 50%. The largest variation within a population was detected for the yield of dry herb (CV 25-46%) and the content of essential oil (CV 17-48%). The homogeneity of the populations was different. The minimal average coefficient of variation of all traits (CV 19%) was determined in the population of the cultivar 'Varico II' and in a population from Lithuania. The ploidy level of T. vulgaris was diploid (2n = 30).

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