Pharmacobotany of Two Valeriana Species (Valerianaceae) of Argentinian Patagonia Known as ?Ñancolahuen?

BACH, H. G.; VARELA, B.; FORTUNATO, R.H.; WAGNER, M.L.

Latin American Journal of Pharmacy

Argentina

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2014 vol. 33 p. 891 - 896

0326 2383

The genus Valeriana (Valerianaceae) with about 250 species is distributed worldwide except in Oceania. Valeriana officinalis is the most known and used species. Forty-nine species grow in Argentina, nineteen of them in the Patagonia region, including Valeriana carnosa and Valeriana clarionifolia, known as ?ñancolahuen? and used in traditional medicine. The objective is to provide anatomical data to differentiate subterranean organs of V. carnosa and V. clarionifolia, in the condition that are marketed. Sectioning techniques, macerations and powdered material analysis were performed. V. carnosa showed a primary pentarch aktinostele root, pith in the secondary structure, and a rhizome with anomalous structure, whereas, V. clarionifolia has no rhizome and showed a protostele as a primary root structure and a secondary structure without pith. In the maceration, the rhizome of V. carnosa presented cork with irregular polygonal cells with acute and obtuse angles while, in V. clarionifolia rectangular cork cells with right angles were observed. Starch grains are simple, spherical in V. carnosa and polyhedral in V. clarionifolia. This study provides unpublished data to differentiate anatomically the two species of ?ñancolahuen?, and discern between them in commercial samples.