Comparing Wild and Cultivated Arnica montana L. from the Italian Alps to Explore the Possibility of Sustainable Production Using Local Seeds

Abstract

Arnica montana L. is an alpine herbaceous plant typical of nutrient-poor grasslands. It is a popular medicinal plant for the treatment of bruises, cuts and pain, and it is also an endangered alpine species. For this reason, the sustainable production of inflorescences instead of the spontaneous collection of plant material, coupled with the use of local ecotypes, should be incentivized. Inflorescences of a wild accession of arnica were compared versus an accession cultivated in Valsaviore (Italian Alps) in terms of seed germination performance and phytochemical characterization by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques. The germination percentage was high (>75%) for both cultivated and wild seeds. The NMR spectra of arnica extracts were very similar and confirmed the presence of sesquiterpene compounds, esters of helenaline and dehydroelenaline. A significant high percentage of acetic acid methyl ester (38 μg/g) and the 2-methyl methyl ester of propanoic acid (31 μg/g) were found in cultivated arnica and were probably associated with fermentation processes linked to the traditional method of air drying on a trellis. The possibility of growing A. montana and a controlled local first transformation are important to incentivize local, good quality and sustainable production. The growing of seedlings “in loco” could be of great interest both for farmers and for natural conservation purposes.

Volatile Composition Variability of Arnica montana Wild Populations of Trentino‐Alto Adige, Italy, Determined by Headspace‐Solid Phase Microextraction

“…However, it is unclear what was the relative abundance of each identified compound, since there is an inconsistency between the data reported in the text, for which the most abundant is Germacrene-D, and those presented in the table, for which Caryophyllene was the main constituent, similarly to what we found in the present study. Additionally, there is only a small overlap between the results reported in the table by Leoni et al [20] and the results presented here. Specifically, only a few of the most abundant compounds were found in both studies, such as Hexanal, α-Bergamotene, and Germacrene-D, while the majority of detected compounds were different.…”

“…[37,38] Hexanal, an aldehyde responsible for the 'green notes' in fruits and vegetables, has antimicrobial against spoilage microbial species. [37] With regard to A. montana, Leoni et al [20] studied the volatile composition of flower heads of two accessions determined by GC/MS coupled with the SPME method. They reported a total of 71 detected peaks, although only 31 volatile compounds were identified in analyzed samples.…”

“…Indeed, the volatile composition of A. montana flower heads reported here differs from some previous studies, except for (E)-Caryophyllene, which has already been reported. [14,20,41] None of the previously mentioned studies investigated the volatile composition of a larger number of accessions with different species origins. Interestingly, we found a high variability of volatile composition among accessions concerning the more abundant compounds.…”

“…doi.org/10.1002/cbdv.202100593 Solid-Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) analysis is one of the latest and most complete methods for determining the volatile composition of plant species. [18,19] However, only one study reported the isolation of volatiles from A. montana using SPME, [20] and an additional study isolated selected compounds by selective solid-phase extraction (SPE). [21] Sesquiterpene lactones and phenolics derivatives, the main class of compounds bestowing the medicinal properties of A. montana, have been suggested as chemosystematic markers within the Asteraceae family.…”

Yield and Chemical Composition of Raw Material from Meadow Arnica (Arnica chamissonis Less.) Depending on Soil Conditions and Nitrogen Fertilization

“…The demand for arnica raw material has exerted pressure on naturally growing populations, i.e., by increased collection for medicinal purposes, which has led to a rapid decline in the abundance of this species in Europe [16][17][18]. The demand for Arnicae flos is not satisfied by either the few difficult and expensive commercial plantations or harvests from natural habitats, which are limited, due to conservation protection [19][20][21][22]. Hence, researchers looked for a species that was easier to grow and produced inflorescences with a similar chemical composition.…”