An Integrative Approach to Selected Species of Tanacetum L. (Asteraceae): Insights into Morphology and Phytochemistry

Abstract

In this work, we studied Tanacetum vulgare, Tanacetum parthenium, and Tanacetum corymbosum (Asteraceae) cultivated at the Ghirardi Botanic Garden (Toscolano Maderno, Brescia, Northern Italy) of the University of Milan. An integrative research approach was adopted: microscopic and histochemical, with special focus on the secretory structures responsible for the productivity of secondary metabolites; phytochemical, with the analysis of the essential oil (EO) profiles from the air-dried, flowered aerial parts collected in June 2021; bio-ecological, with emphasis, based on literature data, on the ecology and biological activity of the main EO components. In all three species, two basic trichome morphotypes (flagellar non-glandular and biseriate glandular) occurred with different distribution patterns. The glandular ones produced terpenes, along with flavonoids. A high level of chemical variability in the EO compositions emerged, specifically for qualitative data. T. vulgare profile was more complex and heterogeneous than those obtained from T. parthenium and T. corymbosum, with camphor as the predominant compound, followed by farnesol and α-santalone, respectively. Finally, the obtained scientific findings were made available to the visitors of the botanic garden through new dissemination labeling that highlights the “invisible”, microscopic features of the plants, from an Open Science perspective (“Botanic Garden, factories of molecules…work in progress”—Lombardy Region Project Lr. 25/2016, year 2021).

A Comparison between Bulgarian Tanacetum parthenium Essential Oil from Two Different Locations

“…The present study supports these data, and the RM sample afforded an even higher camphene amount (16.12%). On the contrary, this substance was lacking in EO from T. parthenium cultivated in Northern Italy [183]. Unlike previous results, Giuliani et al also reported a large content of farnesol (28.83%) belonging to the oxygenated sesquiterpenes [183], which were completely absent in this investigation.…”

“…Camphor has been recognised as the main compound identified in feverfew EOs from various locations, including Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Serbia, Italy, and Tajikistan. Typically, its content is around 45-65% [6,[25][26][27][28]30,131,[180][181][182][183], which is in agreement with our results. Sharopov et al detected a concentration of up to 94% in EO from a wild population growing in Tajikistan [34].…”

“…Trans-Chrysanthenyl acetate was noted as the second most abundant constituent in EOs extracted from leaves, flowers, and aerial parts in concentrations ranging from 21.12% to 33.8% [25,27]. In contrast, in other studies it was not detected at all [6,19,26,29,34,180,181,183] or was found in relatively small amounts/traces [27,30]. Camphene emerged as another characteristic compound of feverfew EO, with a fraction reaching up to 13.74% [6,19,[25][26][27][28][29][30]34,131,[180][181][182].…”

Phytochemistry and Allelopathic Effects of Tanacetum vulgare L. (Tansy) Extracts on Lepidium sativum L. (Garden Pepper Cress) and Lactuca sativa L. (Lettuce)

“…The widespread distribution of T. vulgare may be a ributed to several factors, including its wide range of climatic adaptability and phenotypic plasticity, great self-seeding potential, ripening of numerous seeds, vegetative reproduction via rhizomes, etc. [27][28][29][30]. Additionally, successful tansy outspreading can be explained by its allelochemicals, which have an impact on the germination of seeds, the development of roots and the overall vegetation of surrounding plants, mainly caused by insufficient mineral and water intake, damage to cell membranes, imbalance of phytohormones, disruption of the photosynthesis process, etc.…”

“…The term allelopathy was first used by Austrian scientist H. Molisch in 1937, when he published the results of research concerning the action of ethylene upon some plants [32]. Allelopathy is the phenomenon whereby organisms (mainly plants) liberate specific metabolites, known as allelochemicals into the environment that have an affect (positively or negatively) on the vegetation of other surrounding plants and all biological systems [30]. Allelochemicals are mainly primary and secondary metabolites, generally water-soluble chemicals belonging to a wide range of compound classes, such as amino and phenolic acids, terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, lignins, glucosinolates, tannins, etc.…”