Biodiversity and Evolution of Medicinal Plants: The Achillea millefolium-complex (Asteraceae) in South-Eastern Europe

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium s.l.) counts to the ten most used medicinal plants in Middle and Eastern Europe. The polyploid complex including various allogamous and perennial taxa shows a high biodiversity putting the rational use of wild crafted material in question. In an interdisciplinary approach the following questions have been solved on the basis of plant material of the most important South-East-European origins of Herba Millefolii: - improved knowledge on the distribution area of the taxa and their behaviour at the areal borders, - the exact morphological, cytological and phytochemical characterisation especially of tetraploid species, - the infraspecific differentiation of polymorphic tetraploid taxa, and finally - pre- breeding efforts with enhancement of non-allergenic, anti-inflammatoric and spasmolytic secondary compounds. In the course of several excursions to Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece plant material of Achillea millefolium Agg. has been collected and investigated with respect to morphological and phytochemical parameters. By use of multivariate analysis a systematic grouping was possible showing that many samples were hybridogenous. In parallel, controlled crossings have been performed with typical individuals confirming the classification of natural hybrids and of several steps of species evolution. Additionally, the inheritance and biosynthesis of longipinenons, a further pharmacologically group of sesquiterpenes, could be resolved. And finally some chiral monoterpenes and their inheritance have been studied resulting in the establishing of "enantiotypes". Generally speaking, the project has contributed on one hand to the knowledge on biodiversity and evolution of Achillea, on the other hand to a re-formulation of Pharmacopoea monographs and to the breeding of homogenous high-quality starting materials, the basis of safety and quality of herbal medicinal products.