Wormwoods of the grass light coniferous forests of the Selenga middle mountains as a resource of the healing flora of Buryatia
B.-Ts.B. NAMZALOV1,2, S.V. ZHIGZHITZHAPOVA3, T.E. RANDALOVA1, S.Z. PRELOVSKAYA1, M.B.-Ts. NAMZALOV1
1Banzarov Buryat State University, Ulan-Ude, Russia
2Buryat Research Institute of Agriculture - division of the Siberian Federal Research Centrе of Agro-ВioTechnologies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russia
3Baikal Institute of Nature Management, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russia
Keywords: grass forests of Buryatia, pine forests, larch forests, forest wormwoods, essential oils, medicinal plants
Abstract
The forests of southern Buryatia are mainly represented by communities of the formations of grass light coniferous pine forests (Pinus sylvestris L. ) and forb-grass larch forests (Larix sibirica Ledeb. ), the grass stand composition of which is characterized by wormwoods known as medicinal. In the forest communities of southern Priselenginskaya Buryatia, 14 species of wormwood have been identified; they are rich in essential oils and other biologically active substances (BAS). It has been established that wormwoods were widely used by the aboriginal ethnic groups of Siberia - Evenks, Soyots, Buryats - in religious ceremonies, and as fodder, spicy-aromatic and medicinal plants. It has been determined that, depending on the ecological characteristics of the species, their assignment to forest types (associations) may be different; the occurrence of xerophytic wormwoods will be high in pine forests, in contrast to more humid mesophytic and xeromesophytic species, which are predominantly characteristic of larch forest communities (Artemisia latifolia Ledeb., A. tanacetifolia Bieb. ). For example, of the variety of wormwoods of the subgenus of true or typical wormwoods (subgenus Artemisia L. ), the most widespread is Gmelin’s wormwood (Artemisia gmelinii Weber ex Stechm. ), characteristic not only of forb pine forest communities (spiraea-forb and sedge-forb), but also of larch forest cenoses (steppe-forb and spiraea forb-reed grass). Many species of wormwood were widely used in folk and traditional medicine - Arabic, Tibetan, Mongolian and others. It is known that these plants produce flavonoids, coumarins, and carotenoids. It has been established that they are extremely rich in essential oils, and the predominant components include camphene, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, gamma-terpinene, and borneol. Their diversity is indicated by the oil components in the Buryat populations of Artemisia sericea (Artemisia sericea Weber ex Stechm. ), where a high percentage of the following compounds is noted: 1,8-cineole, camphor, bornyl acetate and germacren D. Wormwood has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. Further phytochemical studies of wormwood are needed to identify valuable plant species in terms of metabolites richness; they are an important resource in the search for new medicinal plants.
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