The purpose of the study is to analyze the species composition of wild weeds with medicinal properties as a ground to assess the resource base of the source of medicines. The material for research was a route-field study of the population of wild weeds in the flora of the Orenburg District of the Orenburg Region. For the study, reference areas for various economic purposes were identified: area № 1 – shelterbelt, № 2 – five-year fallow land, № 3 – agrocenosis, № 4 – field roadsides, № 5 – steppe areas adjacent to agrophytocenoses. As a result, 45 species of weeds with medicinal properties were identified, belonging to two systematic groups: horsetails (1 species) and angiosperms (44 species), of which monocotyledons – 6 species, dicotyledons – 38 species; 42.2 % of the total number of species are included in the state pharmacopoeia and 57.8 % are used in folk and scientific medicine. There are 17 families in total, the number of families with one genus is 10, the rest are 2 or more. The predominant species in terms of number of species are representatives of the families, % of the total number of species: Asteraceae Dumort. (Compositae Giseke) (Asteraceae, Asteraceae) – 31.1; Poaceae Barnh. (Gramineae Juss.) (Poagrass, Grasses – 13.3; Fabaceae Lindl. (Leguminosae Juss., Papilionaceae Giseke) (Leguminaceae, Papilionaceae Giseke) – 8.9. In relation to moisture, the most numerous groups are mesoxerophytes (35.6 % of total number of species) and xerophytes (31.1 % of the total number of species), the smallest is hygromesophytes (2.2 % of the total number of species), which characterizes the zonal nature of the flora. The data obtained as a result of the study require further study, as they show the importance of weeds as a source of valuable medicinal raw materials.
Read full abstract