VARIABILITY OF MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF <i>SATUREJA HORTENSIS</i> (<i>LAMIACEAE</i>) IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF DAGESTAN
The structure of variability and intraspecific differentiation of Satureja hortensis L. (Lamiaceae) on the basis of a complex of morphological features of a plant along a high-rise gradient are studied. Biomorphological peculiarities in three geographically remote locations were studied. The volume of each sample is 30 plants. The dimensional and quantitative features are taken into account. The dry mass of plants, foliage and reproductive effort are determined. A decrease in the dimensional and quantitative features of Satureja hortensis with a set of altitudes above sea level is noted. In the studied populations, a high variability in the number of generative ( CV = 26,9-30,0%) and the total number of lateral branches ( CV = 26,1-30,0%) per plant is observed. With a set of heights, the percentage of foliage (22,9-35,3%) and reproductive effort (4,2-16,2%) is increase. As a result of the conducted studies, it was revealed that a significant contribution to variability of the Satureja hortensis features is made by a complex of abiotic and biotic factors caused by a high-altitude gradient. The correlation coefficient reflects the negative correlation of all the counted features with a high-altitude gradient, except on of the inflorescences mass. In the studied populations a high degree of variability on the weight characteristics of separate fractions and shoot as a whole is observed.