THE MEDICINAL IMPORTANCE OF WILD PLANTS FROM THE SURROUNDINGS OF ULIEȘ VILLAGE, MUREȘ COUNTY

The village of Ulieş belongs to Râciu Commune. It is located in the south-eastern part of the Transylvanian Plain (N46°41’30” E24°23’56”) in a hilly region crossed by wide valleys. It is situated at 24 km distance from Tîrgu Mureș, in the contact area of Mădăraş Hills and Comlod Hills, on the middle stream of the Comlod River (or Lechința) and its tributaries. The paper aims were the study of the flora from the surroundings of Ulieş Village, the investigation of possible medicinal use of the encountered plants species, and the preservation of plant diversity from the area. Fieldworks were conducted in 2014-2017. A total of 415 vascular plant taxa belonging to 76 families were identified. From these, 185 species are medicinal plants with certain content of active principles. Plants containing tannins (13.51%) were in higher percentage followed by those with essential oils (12.97%), saponins (10.81%), alkaloids (8.10%), flavonoids (7.56%), coumarins (7.02%), mucilages (5.94%), iridoids (5.40%), phenolic glycosides (3.78%), anthraquinone derivatives and cardiotonic glycosides (3.24), organic acids, vitamins and provitamins (3.78%), bitter principles (2.70), bitter-aromatic principles (2.16%), etc.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abmj-2018-0010