Introduction of medicinal plants and phytochemical analysis of Viola Tricolor L. grown at Kaunas botanical garden of Vytautas Magnus university

Abstract

Medicinal (aromatic) plants are widely used for the prophylaxis and treatment of diseases. The diversity of their species and varieties is important from the scientific and practical point of view. At the end of the 21th century, specific attention was paid to cultivation and preservation of medicinal, aromatic plants, evaluation of their quality and quantity. Production of many preparations of plant origin, immunostimulating among them, is limited by the deficiency of officinal herbal raw materials. It is essential to increase the assortment of cultivated medicinal plants, to accumulate and study samples of the introduced plants in collections now and in fu­ ture, thus preserving and enriching the genetic fund of the useful plants of Lithuania. The collections of medicinal plants as well as test plantations of sector of Medicinal Plants of Kaunas Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), are the gene pool of seed­ lings and seeds of rare species of medicinal plants, a scientific, informational, educational base as well as the centre of preparation, storage and distribution of raw material, which make a major contribution to the development of science of medicinal plants in Lithuania. The research work presents details of introduction of Wild pansy (Viola tricolor L.) since 1986 in the collection of medicinal plants of sector of Medicinal Plants at Kaunas Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University and its phytochemical analysis results in Instrumental Analysis Laboratory at Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnologies of VMU. The raw material of this medicinal plant was collected and dried in 2012. Viola tricolor L. is an an­ nual herbaceous plant belonging to Violaceae Batsch family. The plant is rich in biologically active compounds, such as polyphenols (flavonoide).[...]