Volume 46, Number 5  (September - October 2001)

Key words:  medicinal raw plant materials, flowers and inflorescences, content of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, iodine and boron, principal component analysis

The concentrations of total nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, iodine and boron in commercial raw plant materials used in medicine taken from selected species of plants growing in Poland were determined. Except for sulfur, the content of all non-metals, after previous sample mineralisation, was determined spectrophotometrically. Sulfur was determined turbidimetrically using BaCl₂ as a turbidic agent. It was established, that analyzed material contained from several to some tens mg of iodine and boron per gram of dry plant tissue, from several hundred mg to several mg of sulfur and phosphorus per gram of dry plant tissue, and from several to some tens of mg of nitrogen and chlorine per gram of dry plant tissue. Species of medicinal plants, which are particularly rich or poor in the studied elements were identified. The regression and principal component analyses revealed some rules about distribution of non-metals in particular plant species and also made possible determination of relations, in which these elements occur in investigated plant materials.