Accumulation of flavonoid compounds in flowering shoots of Achillea collina Becker ex. Rchb. Alba during flower development

The objective of this paper was a screening of flavonoid content in Achillea collina Becker ex. Rchb. Alba flowering tops ( Herba millefolii) and flowers ( Flos millefolii). Ten developmental stages of plant (flowers and tops separately) - from the beginning of flower differentiation to ripe seed stage - were studied. The methanol extract of plant material was used for HPLC analysis. The flavones apigenin, luteolin, and their 7-O-glucosides were found as the main flavonoid constituents in all developmental stages of both flower and top drug. Apigenin and apigenin-7-O-glu - coside contents have a similar accumulation tendency during ontogenesis - their contents fluently increased until the full flower phase and then they decreased. Maximal apigenin and apigenin-7-O-glucoside content was established to range between 0.6 and 0.7 mg/g in millefolii herba and 0.9 and 1.3 mg/g in millefolii flos . The luteolin content has the same tendency and also quantity as apigenin and the highest value at the full flowering stage was found even stronger. On the other hand, luteolin-7-O-glucoside has the highest content at the stage of small flower bud (about 1.0 mg/g). Its amount decreased later on and it increased to the second maximum at the full flower phase.