Acta Pharm. 53 (2003) 139-144

Quantitative analysis of the polyphenols of the aerial parts of
rock samphire - Crithmum maritimum L.

ZELJAN MALES,^1* IRENA ZUNTAR,²  BILJANA NIGOVIC,³ 
MISKO PLAZIBAT⁴ and  VJERA BILUSIC VUNDAC¹ 

zmales@pharma.hr

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
²Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
³Department of Analytics and Medicines Control, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
⁴Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Quantitative spectrometric analyses of the contents of flavonoids, tannins and total polyphenols in the aerial parts of rock samphire - Crithmum maritimum L., collected from three separated geographic locations along the Adriatic coast of Croatia in different growth stages are reported. The results point to variability of the analyte content as a function of the growing site and growth stage. The content of flavonoids was found to be 0.08-0.42%. The highest content of flavonoids was found in the samples collected before flowering. The content of tannins ranged from 0.10 to 2.65%, while the content of total polyphenols varied from 4.72 to 9.48%. The highest contents of tannins and total polyphenols were found in the samples collected before flowering and at the beginning of flowering.

Keywords: Crithmum maritimum L. (Apiaceae), flavonoids, tannins, total polyphenols