FARMACIA, 2021, Vol. 69, 3 461 https://doi.org/10.31925/farmacia.2021.3.8 ORIGINAL ARTICLE EVALUATION OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF AJUGA CHAMAEPITYS (L.) SCHREB. FROM THE SPONTANEOUS FLORA OF ROMANIA ELIS IONUS 1# , LAURA ADRIANA BUCUR 2 *, CARMEN ELENA LUPU 3# , CERASELA ELENA GȊRD 1 1 “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Phytotherapy, 6 Traian Vuia Street, District 2, 020956, Bucharest, Romania 2 “Ovidius” University of Constanţa, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Phytotherapy, 6 Căpitan Aviator Al. Șerbănescu Street, Campus, Corp C, Constanţa, Romania 3 “Ovidius” University of Constanţa, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Mathematics and Informatics, 6 Căpitan Aviator Al. Șerbănescu Street, Campus, Corp C, Constanţa, Romania *corresponding author: adrianabucur@yahoo.com # Authors with equal contribution Manuscript received: November 2020 Abstract Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb., traditionally named yellow bugle, is a perennial species that is part of the Dobrogea region, Romania, spontaneous flora, associated in traditional phytotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine the qualitative and quantitative chemical composition of different types of plant organs (aerial parts, leaves, flowers, stems and roots), as well as the optimal harvesting interval. Thus, higher levels in the flavones, phenolic acids and total polyphenols content were recorded in the plant’s flowers, our analysis yielding 7.1501 g flavonoid content (expressed as rutin equivalents)/100 g dry herbal product, 1.5751 g phenolic acids content (expressed as chlorogenic acid equivalents)/100 g dry herbal product, respectively 5.706 g total phenolic content (expressed as tannic acid equivalents)/100 g dry herbal product . Rezumat Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb., tămâiță de câmp, este o specie perenă întâlnită în flora spontană din regiunea Dobrogei, România, asociată în fitoterapia tradițională. Scopul studiului a fost determinarea compoziției chimice calitative și cantitative a diferitelor tipuri de organe vegetale (părți aeriene, frunze, flori, tulpini și rădăcini), precum și a intervalului optim de recoltare al acestora. Conţinutul maxim în flavone, acizi fenolici şi polifenoli totali a fost înregistrat în probele de flori, obţinându-se 7,1501 g flavone (exprimați în echivalenți de rutin)/100 g produs vegetal uscat, 1,5751 g acizi fenolici (exprimați în echivalenți de acid clorogenic)/100 g produs vegetal uscat, respectiv 5,706 g polifenoli totali (exprimaţi în echivalenți de acid tanic)/100 g produs vegetal uscat. Keywords: Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb., phytochemical screening, phenolic acids, rutin, polyphenols Introduction Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb. taxonomically is a species that belongs to the family Lamiaceae, sub- family Ajugoideae, genus Ajuga [4]. The plants from the genus Ajuga are widespread in the spontaneous flora of Europe, Asia, Australia, North Africa and North America, and comprise about 300 species and countless naturalized subspecies around the globe [10]. Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb. is a small, annual or biennial herbaceous plant that blooms in the summer from May to August, and presents a thin, quadrangular, hairy, 10 - 30 cm long stem, while its root is rhizome- shaped and its leaves are 1 - 4 cm long, tripartite and hairy, with flowers which are up to 15 mm long. The corolla ranges from yellow to pale red, it is 10 - 15 mm long, and has two lips, whereas its fruits appearance is a tetranucule and the whole plant emits a pine scent when crushed [4, 22, 25]. Traditionally, the Ajuga species, including Ajuga chamaepitys (L.) Schreb., were used as a diuretic, tonic, emmenagogue, as well as for wound healing (crushed leaves were applied to wounds), for the treatment of scorpion and snake bites, for the treatment of haemorrhoids, stomach pain, jaundice, inflammatory diseases such as gout, as well as in common colds [9, 24]. Various extracts of this species have been investigated and their antimicrobial [12, 23, 24], anti- oxidant [5, 9, 12, 23], antiviral [16], antinociceptive [11] and cytotoxic [16, 22, 25] properties with multiple benefits for the human body have been reported. Regarding the chemical composition, several studies have been conducted on extracts with different solvents which have shown the presence of flavonoids [12], polyphenols [5, 12], iridoids [25], neoclerodane di-