Identification of diversity in elements content in medicinal plants belonging to different plant families

The aim of this study was to verify if the content of some microelements (B, Zn, Fe and Na) and macroelements (Mg, Ca and K), can be used for proper identification of the medicinal plant raw materials originating from five plant families - Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae. Such information could be helpful in standardisation of herbal products as well as in chemotaxonomy. Seven elements were determined in 79 samples of plant raw materials. MANOVA test showed that plant samples originating from the studied botanical families differ significantly, taking into consideration their contents of analysed elements. By using of non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test it was revealed that taxonomical variables influence significantly the differences in elemental contents in the studied samples. Significant differences in contents of Zn between the families of Apiaceae and Fabaceae, Fe and Na between families of Asteraceae and Rosaceae, Fe between families of Apiaceae and Rosaceae, and Rosaceae and Lamiaceae, and of Ca between families of Asteraceae and Fabaceae, Rosaceae and Lamiaceae and Asteraceae and Lamiaceae occurred. A cluster analysis dendrogram enabled identification of several clusters grouping plant materials originating from plants of the same botanical family. Principal component analysis showed that plant materials originating from the families Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae created separate clusters along principal component 1, and each cluster groups more than 2/3 of plant materials of a given family. Plant materials from family Rosaceae created a common cluster along principal component 2. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.