engleski

Elemental Characterisation of the Medical Plant Alchemilla Velebitica

Alchemilla, commonly called "lady's mantle", is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the family Rosaceae. There are about 300 species distributed mainly in Europe and Asia. The species Alchemilla velebitica is found only in Southern Europe, like in the Croatian National Park Northern Velebit. Due to its astringent and emmenagogue activity it can be used to stop internal as well as external bleeding and in cases of diarrhea and gastroenteritis. Furthermore it reduces women related symptoms such as heavy menstrual bleeding, menstrual cramps and menopausal problems. As decoction or wash it can be also applied for treating wounds and skin irritation. These benefits are correlated to the organic compounds found in the plant, but also certain trace elements are known to reduce skin lesions, such as zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, silicon and lithium. Thus the objective of the present study was the elemental characterisation of leaves, flowers and roots of Alchemilla velebitica. The plants were collected in Croatian National Park Velebit in 2012. After acidic microwave assisted digestion the concentrations of selected essential major, minor and trace elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry. In all plant parts Ca is present at about 2 mg/g, Mg is lowest in roots (0.5 mg/g) and highest in flowers with approx. 2 mg/g, Na and K range from about 0.1 to 0.3 mg/g from roots to flowers. Zn is mainly accumulated in the roots (55 μg/g) followed by flowers (30 μg/g) and leaves (20 μg/g). Fe is present in the flowers with 120 μg/g, in the roots and leaves only 70-80 μg/g can be found. Mn shows a different distribution pattern, its lowest content with 30 μg/g is in the roots, leaves contain about 60 μg/g and the flowers 50 μg/g. Cu can be found in all three plant parties at concentrations of about 5-7 μg/g. For further research the preparation of decoctions are planned in order to calculate the extraction yields of the elements of interest.

Alchemilla Velebitica; Elements; ICP-AES

nije evidentirano