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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (33): 59-66.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0230

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Analysis of Active Components in Flowers and Leaves of 35 Species of Sect. Chrysantha

WEI Xiaojuan(), ZHANG Xing, WANG Kun, YANG Deren   

  1. Guangxi Forestry Research Institute/ Guangxi Forestry Laboratory/ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Special Non-wood Forest Cultivation & Utilization, Nanning 530002
  • Received:2025-03-20 Revised:2025-08-19 Online:2025-11-25 Published:2025-12-01

Abstract:

To screen elite varieties of golden Camellia and develop high value-added products, 35 species of Sect. Chrysantha plants were used as materials, the contents of polyphenols, total saponins, total flavonoids and crude polysaccharides, the main active components in flowers and leaves of golden Camellia were determined by spectrophotometry, combined with variance analysis. The differences in active components among Chinese golden Camellia, Vietnamese golden Camellia and new hybrid varieties were investigated. The results showed that among the 40 mature leaves sampled from February to March 2023, 14 had a total active component content of over 10.00%, among which the contents of C. petelotii (21.75%) and C. pubipetala (15.95%) were outstanding. The total content of active components in mature leaves of 12 species of golden Camellia sampled in November 2023 was still highest in C. petelotii, and the top four in the total content of active components in tender leaves were all Chinese golden Camellia (C. euphlebia, C. pubipetala, C. longzhouensis and C. chrysantha). Among the 20 flower samples continuously collected from 2023 to 2024, the total content of active components of 15 samples exceeded 10.50%, with C. achrysantha (17.62%) and C. pubipetala (15.54%) leading, and the new variety ‘Honguniang’ (14.13%) performed well. The research founded that the active components in leaves was significantly affected by seedling age (the activity decreased after > 13 years), while the activity of flowers was weakly correlated with seedling age. C. petelotii was the best in many indexes of leaves, C. achrysantha had obvious comprehensive advantages in flowers, and the new hybrid variety ‘Honguniang’ had both flower and leaf potential. The results provide important germplasm resources for subsequent medicinal and landscape development.

Key words: Sect. Chrysantha, polyphenol, total saponin, total flavonoid, crude polysaccharide, leaf, flower, analysis