CHEMICAL ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM PLANTS: ELEMENTS WHICH CONCEN-TRATIONS ARE NOT REGULATED

Abstract

Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John’s wort) is a popular medicinal plant, but its chemical element composition has been studied insufficiently, especially of the plants originated in the Russian Federation. The aim of the study was to examine chemical element composition of Hypericum perforatum L plants originating from the south of West Siberia and to review similar data on plants grown in other climatic zones and regions, attempting to establish chemical elements' ranges in the phytomass of the studied species. Chemical element concentrations were determined by AES in 100 samples of aboveground and 60 samples of belowground H. perforatum plant parts collected in West Siberia (Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions, the Altai Republic). Total concentrations of various chemical elements did not differ (P≤0.05) in different samples. The aboveground plant parts were found to have very  high concentrations of K, Са, P, Si, Mg (n×103–104 mg/kg) alongside with high concentrations of Al, Fe, Na (n×102 mg/kg) and moderate concentrations of Мn, Sr, Ba, Zn, B, Ti, Cu (n×10 mg/kg), whereas such elements as Ni, Zr (n mg/kg) were found in decreased concentrations, while V, Cr, Mo, Co, Y, Ga showed low concentrations (n×10-1 mg/kg), Sc, Ве, Yb (n×10-2 mg/kg) being very low. The accumulation of Ba and Sr in plants revealed some regional peculiarities as their concentrations in plants of Siberian origin was higher than in plants of the European one. The average chemical element concentrations for a wide set of world data displayed a wider range, with extremely high or low values, as compared to the regional range of variation. The studied plants had no barriers for the uptake of Zn, Р, B, Mg, Mn and K, but for Са, Ва, Sr, Mo, Co in different samples the root barrier coefficient was higher, lower or equal to 1.