Volume 8, Issue 3, May 2015, Pages 329–332
Open Access
Original article
Chemical composition of selected Saudi medicinal plants
- Open Access funded by King Saud University
- Under a Creative Commons license
Abstract
Medicinal
plants are important in traditional medicine and modern pharmaceutical
drugs; therefore, the interest in the analysis of their chemical
composition is increasing. In this study, selected medicinal plants
including Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk) Sch., Amaranthus viridis L., Asteriscus graveolens (Forssk.) Less., Chenopodium album L., and Conyza bonariensis
(L.) Cronquist were collected from the rangeland of western regions
(Bahra and Hada areas) of Saudi Arabia to study their chemical
composition. Eight minerals (Mg, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, and Zn), total
phenolic contents, antioxidant activity, and free-radical scavenging
ability were examined in order to evaluate the medicinal potential of
these plants. All the plants were found to be rich sources of minerals
and antioxidants, although there were significant differences (p < 0.05)
in their chemical composition, which may provide a rationale for
generating custom extracts from specific plants depending on the
application. The findings of this study will thus facilitate herbalists
in their efforts to incorporate these plants into various formulations
based on their chemical composition.
Abbreviations
- Af, Achillea fragrantissima;
- Av, Amaranthus viridis;
- Ag, Asteriscus graveolens;
- Ca, Chenopodium album;
- Cb, Conyza bonariensis
Keywords
- Antioxidant;
- Medicinal plants;
- Minerals;
- Polyphenol;
- Saudi Arabia
1. Introduction
Medicinal
plants have been used for centuries throughout the world, and many
people still rely on indigenous medicinal plants for their safe or
primary health care needs. Several researchers including Rahman et al., 2004, El-Ghazali et al., 2010 and Daur, 2012
have revealed that Saudi Arabia has valuable medicinal plants and its
natural stress conditions of drought and heat are considered as positive
factors for medicinal plants. To date however, little attention has
been focussed on the chemical analysis, conservation, and sustainable
production of medicinal plants in the country (Sher and Alyemeni, 2011 and Almehdar et al., 2012).
Due to the increasing interest in herbal medicine, our objective in
this study was to conduct a systematic chemical analysis of the
medicinal plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The present study was designed to collect and analyze certain plants of Saudi Arabia (Af, Av, Ag, Ca, Cb) that are mentioned with medicinal value in folk-care system by various researchers, such as McGaw and Eloff (2008), Gidaya et al., 2009 and Jana and Shekhawat, 2010.
