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Monochasma savatieri Franch. ex Maxim is a perennial, parasitic herb used in traditional Chinese medicine and its wild resources have declined sharply in recent years. For a long time, the ...

Amana edulis (Miq.) Honda is an important medicinal plant with a variety of anti-cancer properties, and it is of great importance to improve its reproductive rate through micropropagation technology to meet increasing demand. In the present study, in order to establish a rapid in vitro bulblet propagation protocol for A. edulis, an L16 (45) orthogonal design was used to investigate the effects of sucrose, 6-benzyladenine (6-BA), α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and macro-elements on bulblet induction. The results show that the sucrose concentration was the crucial factor for A. edulis bulblet initiation, followed by 6-BA and macro-elements, while NAA had the weakest effect. The optimal medium for in vitro bulblet induction was Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 0.1 mg·L−1 6-BA, 0.01 mg·L−1 NAA, and 100 g·L−1 or 80 g·L−1 sucrose (pH 5.8), in which A. edulis shoot clusters (without roots) were cultured at 5(±2)°C for 35 d or 60 d and then incubated at 23(±2)°C for 90 d. The entire cultivati...

Prunella vulgaris plants (full-bloom stage) were subjected to short-term (15 days) UV-B radiation in a growth chamber. UV-B radiation was effective at enhancing morphological and biomass characteristics and decreasing chlorophyll contents of P. vulgaris. Treatment of P. vulgaris with artificial UV-B radiation significantly increased peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) activities compared to the control treatment. UV-B radiation significantly increased the levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline in leaves of P. vulgaris compared to those of control plants. In addition, the contents of total flavonoids, rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid and hyperoside significantly increased under UV-B radiation. The total phenolic levels also increased under UV-B treatment. These results demonstrated that short-term UV-B radiation can enhance production of secondary metabolites in P. vulgaris, resulting in increased spica yield compared to that of control plants.

We have examined the influence of four phosphorus (P) levels on growth performance, photosynthetic efficiency and bioactive phytochemical production of Prunella vulgaris L. in hydroponic culture. Results that 0.20 mM P was enhanced the dry weight, shoot height, spica and root weights, spica length and number, total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance were determined after three months' treatment. A supply of surplus P resulted in a higher concentration of foliar P and was negatively correlated with biomass. Both P-deficient (0 mM) and high P (10.00 mM) resulted in increased concentrations of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid, with the exception of flavonoids. An increase in water extract from P. vulgaris spicas was noted with the application of increasing P concentrations. Our results indicated that the application of 0.20 mM P improves the biomass production and the yield of bioactive constituents of P. vulgaris.

Essential oils present in the dried flowers, leaves and stems of Prunella vulgaris were investigated for their chemical diversity using capillary GC and GC-MS. A total of 68 compounds were isolated from these three components: 28 from the flowers (representing 83.4 % of the essential oils present), 19 (80.1 %) from the leaves and 21 (79.5 %) from the stem. The most abundant components in the flower oil included hexadecanoic acid (70.0 %), (Z)-9-octadecenoic acid hexyl ester (3.8 %) and 2,2,3-trimethyl-decane (2.7 %). Aromadendrene (55.4 %), cucumber alcohol (8.5 %) and phytol (5.1 %) were the main components in the leaf. In the stem, hexadecanoic acid (38.4 %), trans-traumatic acid (22.4 %) and phytol (6.6 %) were the major components.