THE ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF THE LEAVES OF PLANTS OF THE VACCINIUM GENUS

Introduction. Chemical elements take part in the most important physiological processes of plant organisms. No specific features of their accumulation and interaction with pharmacologically active substances have been found for the plants of the genus Vaccinium. In addition, it is unclear how environmentally safe the medicinal plant raw materials are during harvesting in different areas. Objective: to mass spectometrically determine the element composition of the leaves of European and Asian Vaccinium species grown in Russia. Material and methods. The leaves of minor lingonberry (Vaccinium minus (Lodd.) Worosch.), common lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.), bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum L.), red huckleberry (Vaccinium рraestans Lamb.); Caucasian whortleberry (Vaccinium arctostaphylos L.), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), blue huckleberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium Sm. In Rees), and Vaccinum smallii, which had been harvested in the natural habitats, were matters for this investigation. Their elemental composition was examined by inductively coupled argon plasma mass spectrometry. Results. The investigation established that the leaves contained 60 elements, including 6 gross elements and 54 trace elements. Their contents in the leaves of different species varied. The accumulation of toxic elements did not exceed the permissible levels. Conclusion. Mass spectrometry was used to determine the element composition of the leaves of 8 species of the genus Vaccinium L. grown in Russia, which were characterized by individual differences in the accumulation of individual elements and to establish the environmental safety of the leaves.