IntroductionOriganum dubium Boiss. is an economically important wild oregano species in Turkey. The most important characteristic of this oregano is its high essential oil content (6%-8%). This herb is intensely harvested from wild uplands near the towns of Alanya and Gazipaşa in Antalya Province and is used to produce essential oil. Thus, natural populations have been decreasing annually. Various genotypes and chemotypes have been reported within wild populations, such as high carvacrol and high linalool types (Turgut et al., 2013). Therefore, cultivating O. dubium seems to be the most convenient way to conserve wild populations and produce stable quantities of drugs. O. dubium grows wild in Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. O. dubium is composed of carvacrol, linalool, and linaloolcarvacrol chemotypes, as well as the thymol chemotype. The thymol, linalool, and carvacrol chemotypes have been reported in Turkish O. dubium populations, whereas those in Cyprus are only the carvacrol chemotype (Figuérédo et al., 2006). Lukas et al. (2013) reported taxonomic uncertainties concerning the section Majorana. They assessed the taxonomic status of O. onites, O. syriacum, O. dubium, and O. majorana and discussed the evolutionary relationships in the section Majorana after considering molecular, morphological, and phytochemical data. According to their results, the 'cymyl' chemotype of O. majorana L. is classified as O. dubium. The leaves and flowers of this species are used to treat gastrointestinal problems and as a diuretic, and the essential oil is used as an antirheumatic (Arnold et al., 1993). In addition, the essential oil of O. dubium has been evaluated as a pharmaceutical and industrial product (Baser et al., 1993;Vera and Chane-Ming, 1999) due to its antimicrobial and potential antioxidant activity (Karioti et al., 2006). The biological activities of O. dubium Boiss. essential oil, such as anticarcinogenic (Koparal and Zeytinoglu, 2003), antioxidant (Mezzoug et al., 2007), fungicidal (Ahmad et al., 2011;Dambolena et al., 2011), insecticidal (Tang et al., 2011), and antimicrobial properties (Nostro and Papalia, 2012 are associated with carvacrol content.

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Melissa officinalis subsp. L. altissima (Sibthr. et Smith) Arcang which belongs to Lamiaceae (mint) family is a perennial, herbaceous and essential oil bearing plant. Its essential oil and extract could be used as antimicrobial and antioxidant agent. However, there is a limited number of reports on agronomy and chemical contents of Melissa officinalis subsp. L. altissima (Sibthr. et Smith) Arcang. In this study, effect of five different nitrogen doses (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha -1 ) on some agronomic traits of Melissa officinalis subsp. L. altissima (Sibthr. et Smith) Arcang were examined in the conditions of Mediterranean climate in 2011 and 2012. All traits were significantly affected by the different nitrogen doses in the second year of the experiment. Higher nitrogen doses increased plant height, number of branches, fresh herbage yield, fresh leaf yield, dry herbage yield and dry leaf yield. On the other hand, the highest N dose (200 kg ha -1 ) did not give the highest values in terms of plant height, number of branches, fresh herbage yield and dry herbage yield. In the second year, 150 kg ha -1 nitrogen treatment was appeared to be better than other treatments.

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