Lallemantia iberica, known commonly as dragon's head, is a medicinal plant belonging to the mint family ( Lamiaceae) , distributed in many areas of Iran. This plant has valuable volatile oil compounds which has many industrial applications such as pharmaceutical, and food. It is also introduced as a substitute for Linum Usitatissimum. Today, tissue and plant cell culture techniques are used as a modern biotechnological tool to develop micropropagation, or to induce secondary metabolites and essential oils. Therefore, in this study, callus induction for shoot regeneration or cell suspension culture was firstly evaluated. The effects of different concentrations of the combination of NAA (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 3 mgl-1) and BA (0. 0.5, 0.75, and 1 mgl-1) hormones in the MS medium in in vitro on callus induction from different explants (nodes, leaves and cotyledon) were studied. The calli were then assessed in terms of qualitative characteristics such as color, rigidity or softness and fragility. The preliminary results showed that the node was the best explant to induce callus and the best hormonal combinations were 3 mgl-1 NAA with 0.5 mgl-1 BA, 3 mgl-1 NAA with 0.75 mgl-1 BA and 1.5 mgl-1 NAA with 1 mgl-1 of BA. Moreover, qualitative analysis of the three mentioned hormonal combinations showed that the callus in the first composition had a bright green color, soft and non-friable texture, in the second composition had a dark green color, soft and non-fragile texture and also in the third composition bright green, soft and non-fragile texture. These primary results can be a means for the evaluation of valuable secondary metabolites in callus, cell suspension culture and also an introduction to the shoot regeneration.
