European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

This species is classified as Least Concern due to its widespread distribution, stable populations and no major threats.

Oregano grows wild all over Europe and the United Kingdom, becoming rare in Scotland and parts of Ireland. It is also native to North Africa and Macaronesia, temperate Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is cultivated widely outside its native range (Castroviejo et al. 2010, Forey 1991, USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2012).

It is common within its native areas and also widely cultivated. In the United Kingdom it has declined slightly except in chalk and limestone soils (Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora 2012, Castroviejo et al. 2010).

Oregano is an aromatic herbaceous perennial growing in calcareous soils and is mainly found in dry grassland, scrub, hedgebanks, road verges and quarries. It easily colonises bare ground or with sparse vegetation and is occasionally naturalised from gardens. It does not do well in heavily grazed areas. It has the characteristic marjoram scent and it blooms in late summer producing dense round clusters of purple-pink flowers which are attractive to butterflies and bees. It is in flower from July to September, with the seeds ripening from August to October. (Forey 1991, Blamey and Grey-Wilson 2003, Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora 2012, World Health Organization 2010).

This species is not threatened.

Herba Origani consists of the whole or cut dried aerial parts of Origanum vulgare which is collected during the flowering phase. The drug consists of flowering leafy stems up to 20 cm long, green or violet in colour which is used to treat cough, colds and bronchial catarrh, and is used as an expectorant and diaphoretic. It is known for its aromatic odour, slightly bitter and spicy taste and astringent properties. It is also used as a sedative and antispasmodic agent for treatment for bloating, stimulation of bile secretion, stimulant of appetite and digestion, algomenorrhoea and impotence, used as a diuretic and treatment for kidney infections, kidney stones and poor renal function from chronic nephritis. It is also used externally for scrofula and wound healing. It is among many other plants used to relieve toothache. The methanol extract and its essential oil is used with carvacol and thymol which is antiinflammatory and helpful in reducing aches from muscle strains to treat inflammation, arthritis, hepatitis. Its essential oils also have antifungal, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, insecticidal and antibiotic properties (Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 2003, World Health Organization 2010).

This plant's essential oil is used in aromatherapy. The leaves can be used raw or cooked and it is often grown as a potherb. Much of the commercially available dried oregano does not come from this plant but from a number of different, often unrelated plants such as Lippia graveolens, L. palmeri and Origanum syriacum. A herb tea is made from the dried leaves and flowering stems (Plants for a Future 2012).

There are no conservation measures in place or needed.

It is listed as Least Concern on the national red lists of Denmark (NERI 2007), Estonia (eBiodiversity Estonia 2012), Germany (Ludwig and Schnittler 1996), Norway (Artsdatabanken 2010), Switzerland (Moser et al. 2002) and the United Kingdom (Cheffings and Farrell 2005).