Status of medicinal and aromatic plants in - Inia

PRESENTED PAPERS 73
Conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants in Lithuania
Jolita Radušienė
Institute of Botany, Vilnius, Lithuania
Introduction
The use of wild medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) is widespread and has old traditions
in Lithuania, especially in forested areas in the southern and southeastern parts of the
country. About 100 taxa are still harvested from the wild for medicinal purposes,
representing a significant part of the Lithuanian natural biodiversity which comprises 1323
vascular plant taxa. The changes in political and economic life (Lithuania regained its
independence in 1991) have increased the demand for MAPs and therefore determinate the
importance of germplasm conservation. Active conservation of MAPs is pursued within the
context of the National State Plant Genetic Resources Programme (1998-2002).
The Nordic Gene Bank has made a substantial contribution in starting and developing
plant genetic resources (PGR) conservation activity in Baltic countries. The Nordic-Baltic
collaborative project on PGR for food and agriculture was initiated in 1994 and is still
ongoing (Weibull 2001). The MAP working group is one of the crop-specific working groups
within this project. The new project SPIMED (Spice and medicinal plants in the Nordic and
Baltic countries. Strategies for conservation of genetic resources) started in 2002.
This paper provides a brief review of the current research and activities dealing with
MAP germplasm conservation in Lithuania.
Material and methods
The analysis of trade figures is based on data collected by the governmental Department of
Statistics and the Division of Plant Resources of the Ministry of Environment in 1996-2001.
Target species for conservation were selected on the basis of their current economic value,
usefulness for breeding and conservation status. The evaluation of accessions was carried
out according to the morphometric analysis of the phenotype and the quality and quantity of
secondary metabolites. Analytical methods were employed for chemical evaluation of the
raw material of target species. Spectrophotometry was used for the determination of total
flavonoids. The quantitative analysis of phenolic compounds was carried out by a modified
HPLC gradient elution method (Hölzl and Ostrowski 1987). Essential oils were isolated by
hydro-distillation. GC and GC–MS analyses were performed for qualitative and quantitative
evaluation of the essential oils.
The species distribution maps were prepared on the basis of herbarium data from the
Institute of Botany and Vilnius University and our observations on MAP sources.
Results and discussion
• The trade in MAPs
The average annual volume of plant material coming from the wild represents about 29% of
the total volume used in pharmaceutics. This means that about 85 t dry raw material is
extracted from the wild populations yearly (Fig. 1). The most frequently used native species
in herbal medicine are Crataegus sp., Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Menyanthes trifoliata, Hypericum
perforatum, Thymus serpyllum, Tussilago farfara, Polygonum aviculare, Urtica dioica and Frangula
alnus.