Total flavonoids and phenolics content of the chosen genus Iris species

Abstract

This article contains the results of the measurements of the flavonoids and phenolics content in the five Iris species (Iris pseudacorus, Iris crocea, Iris spuria, Iris orientalis and Iris ensata). Chosen plants are mostly grown as ornamental plants because of their colourful flowers, but biochemical research in recent year show that these species also contain in their leaves, roots and flowers some interesting chemical substances that can be used in medicine. In this experiment were used 5 years old plants which were grown on the experimental grounds of Horticulture Faculty in Lednice. For the research were used rhizomes, because the rhizomes are by most authors considered as the richest source of the secondary metabolites. We used lyophilized rhizomes – to measure the content of flavonoids and phenolics in the fresh matter. And air dried rhizomes, which were dried in room temperature (22 °C) for fifteen and fifty days. The results show that the content of the flavonoids in the fresh (lyophylized) rhizomes was highest in the rhizomes of Iris pseudacorus and lowest in the rootstocks of Iris orientalis. The highest phenolics content in the fresh (lyophylized) rhizomes was also in the Iris pseudacorus, the lowest in the Iris crocea.