Macro, minor and toxic elemental uptake and distribution inHypoxis hemerocallidea, “the African Potato”—an edible medicinal plant

Abstract

The elemental uptake and distribution, in various parts of the admired herbal plant, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, the 'African potato' and its ability to accumulate elements in response to the growth soil quality are investigated. The total and exchangeable concentrations of twelve elements in the growth soils and their distribution in the roots, potato bulb and leaves of the plants grown under four different settings were compared. The typical concentrations of the twelve selected elements, in the bulb and leaves of the plant grown in a nursery pot (site 2) were (in microg g(-1)dry weight) Ca (8430 and 27075), Mg (2113 and 1566), Fe (66 and 150), Al (10 and 368), Zn (105 and 6.1), Mn (42 and 51), Cu (7.2 and 20.8), Ba (0.23 and 4.44), Co (0.20 and 0.42), As (2.05 and 24.56), Hg (0.92 and 1.82) and Cr (0.13 and 0.33). Except for Ca, Mg, Zn and Mn, the exchangeable cation concentrations in all the growth soils were low. Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn and As had bioaccumulation factors >1. Fe, Al and Co concentrations were high in the roots with little in the rest of the plant. High concentration of arsenic (approximately 13 microg g(-1) dry weight) with bioaccumulation factors of 7 and 20 were observed in the roots and leaves of the plant respectively (site 2), but the concentration of mercury in bulb was very low (0.92 microg g(-1) dry weight).

Chromium Accumulation in Medicinal Plants Growing Naturally on Tannery Contaminated and Non-contaminated Soils

“…Heavy metal contamination has been found in herbal preparations from Africa, South America and Asia [4][5][6]. Heavy metals are intentionally added to herbal preparations in some forms of traditional systems of medicine (e.g.…”

Effect of Cobalt on the Environment and Living Organisms - A Review

“…. Cobalt availability to plants largely depends on the soil conditions(Jonnalagadda et al, 2008;Agbenin et al, 2009;Wendling et al, 2009). This was confirmed in a study byEdwards et al (2012) where the application of drainage in pasture soil accelerated the weathering of minerals and increased cobalt absorption by grasses.…”

“…Its deficiency in the human body leads to the appearance of anemia, resulting from a low amount of produced vitamin B12. Another manifestation of a cobalt deficiency in the human body is disturbed functioning of the alimentary, nervous and osseous systems (Jonnalagadda et al, 2008;Soylak et al, 2012).…”

Diversity and Conservation through Cultivation of Hypoxis in Africa—A Case Study of Hypoxis hemerocallidea

“…Hypoxis hemerocallidea has low crude protein value and low accumulation of selected elements [68], compared to human daily requirement, but its high iron content makes it a good candidate for use in overcoming iron deficiencies [47]. Some geophytes of Hypoxis were found in the caves in South Africa, evidence for cooking of edible rhizomes centuries ago [69]. A glycoside called hypoxoside is mentioned as the main component of H. hemerocallidea, with sterols (stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, campesterol), sterolins, norlignan, daucosterols and stanols (stigmastanol) as additional constituents [42,46,[57][58][59].…”