Lippia alba, a Brazilian species, from the Verbenaceae family, is planted and used throughout Brazil in traditional medicine such as analgesic, calminative and sedative, using aqueous extract of leaves. This study investigated the effect of GA3, ethephon and CCC spray solutions on the growth of L. alba at different times of the year. The experiment was carried out at São Manuel Experimental Station from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Botucatu, Brazil, from December 1995 to December 1996. The experiment consisted of 7 treatments with three replications in complete randomized blocks, and the treatment was applied to the plots and at harvest time, to the subplots. The treatments included control, giberellic acid (GA3 50 and 100 mg.L-1), 2-cloroetil-fosfonic acid (ethephon 100 and 200 mg.L-1) and 2-cloroetil-trimetil ammonium chloride (CCC- 1000 and 2000 mg.L-1). The vegetable regulators were applied at two different periods, forty and a hundred days after establishment of the experiment, and the growth of the plants was evaluated six times. After the first application, the plants were collected at intervals of 14 days. Plant growth regulators GA3, and CCC tended to elevate the results of the evaluated parameters (dry matter of stem, leaves, flowers and total) but the results always stayed smaller or equal to the control.
Lippia alba; gibberellic acid; ethephon; CCC; medicinal plants
