Herbs - Medicinal Plants

Parsley. Characteristics of parsley plant. Active ingredients

Parsley plant properties. Scientific name, Identification. Active ingredients and content of Parsley leaves, seeds and roots. General characteristics of the Parsley plant. Medicinal properties, benefits. Uses and contraindications. Preparation and dosage.

Identification and origin of Parsley

Scientific name: Pretoselinum cripsum

Parsley is a biennial herb up to 80 cm long, hairless, with thin stems and triangular outline leaves two to three times pinnate, the upper leaves have entire leaflets and the basal ones serrated or toothed. The flowers grouped in umbels of 8-20 radios are yellowish green. The fruits are subglobose or ovoid, aromatic, with five ribs equal.

The parts used are the entire plant: leaves, fruits and roots.

It is native to the Mediterranean region but now cultivated worldwide.

Active ingredients and content of Parsley

Leaves and seeds:
Essential oil (3-6%): fenilpropanos (apiol, myristicin)
terpenes (alpha and beta-pinene). Flavonoids: apioside, luteolol, apigenol.
Vitamins A, B, C;
minerals (iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iodine, manganese, sulfur);
furanocumarins trace: bergapten; enzymes: diastase.

Roots:
Essential oil (0.5-1%): apiol, myristicin; flavonoids: apioside. Poliínos: falcarinol. Furanocoumarins: bergapten, oxypeucedanin, isoimperatorin.

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references

Ashraf M et al., (1980) Pak J Sci Ind Res 23(3/4): 128.
Bjeldanes LF, Kim I, (1977) J Org Chem 42:2333.
Busse WW et al., (1984) J All Clin. Immunol. 73:801.
Chaudhary SK et al., (1986) Planta Med (6):462.
Gijbels MJM et al., (1985) Fitoterapia 61(1): 17.
Innocenti G et al., (1976) Planta Med 29:165.
Neuhaus-Carlisle K et al., Calcium-antagonistic activity of extracts and constituents of Petroselinum crispum and other pheaylpropane derivatives. In: PM 59(7):A582. 1992.
Zheng GQ, Kenney PM, Lam LKT, Myristicin - a potential cancer chemopreventive agent from parsley leaf oil. In: J Agric Food Chem 40(1): 107. 1992.
Neuhaus-Carlisle K et al.. Calcium-antagonistic activity of extracts and constituents of Petroselinum crispum and other phenylpropane derivatives. In: PM 59(7):A582. 1992.