Abstract: Banat has a geographical location particularly favorable from the point of view of the climate and of the relief, which favored the development of a large number of grassy species. The Aninei Mountains is the area taken in the study, located in South-West of Romania. It is an area with favorable climatic conditions for a large number of plants also sheds a considerable number of medicinal and aromatic herb, that make the region even more valuable. The genus Stachys belongs, from a systematic point of view, to the Family Lamiaceae. The family contains about 4,000 species spread all over the world, most frequently in Mediterranean area. (Chifu et al., 2001). The genus Stachys groups a large number of species (over 300), with a wide distribution over almost the entire globe. Exceptions to this rule are only Australia and New Zeeland. (Bilusic Vundac et al., 2006) Our research aimed at both identifying the areas where this species thrives and justifies its economic valorisation, and at establishing, through bio-chemical analyses of the material quality. The paper highlights the importance of knowing the real economic potential of spontaneous medicinal species, correlated with biochemical analysis. Determination of chemical composition can recomended or not the use of a medicinal species from certin areas. For the quantitative assessment we used the methodology of economic mapping of medicinal plants in the spontaneous flora indicated by Alexan, Bojor and Craciun in 1983, and  improved by Bojor in 1991. Chemical composition was determined after the Official Methods of Analyses. The authors thank the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth, and Sport which, through the National Council of Scientific Research in Higher Education, has financed the present study as part of the research project PN II IDEI nr. contract 1077/2009, project code ID-865. The topic of the project is ,,Identifying medicinal and aromatic plants from the Aninei Mountains with a view to valorisation’’.

medicinal and aromatic plants, Stachys officinalis, Aninei Mountain,quantitaive assessment, chemical composition

Presentation: oral