Accumulation of flavonoid compounds in flowering shoots of Achillea collina Becker ex. Rchb. Alba during flower development

Abstract

The objective of this paper was a screening of flavonoid content in Achillea collina Becker ex. Rchb. Alba flowering tops (Herba millefolii) and flowers (Flos millefolii). Ten developmental stages of plant (flowers and tops separately) – from the beginning of flower differentiation to ripe seed stage – were studied. The methanol extract of plant material was used for HPLC analysis. The flavones apigenin, luteolin, and their 7-O-glucosides were found as the main flavonoid constituents in all developmental stages of both flower and top drug. Apigenin and apigenin-7-O-glu- coside contents have a similar accumulation tendency during ontogenesis – their contents fluently increased until the full flower phase and then they decreased. Maximal apigenin and apigenin-7-O-glucoside content was established to range between 0.6 and 0.7 mg/g in millefolii herba and 0.9 and 1.3 mg/g in millefolii flos. The luteolin content has the same tendency and also quantity as apigenin and the highest value at the full flowering stage was found even stronger. On the other hand, luteolin-7-O-glucoside has the highest content at the stage of small flower bud (about 1.0 mg/g). Its amount decreased later on and it increased to the second maximum at the full flower phase.