Scientific Papers Series Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2015 PRINT ISSN 2284-7995, E-ISSN 2285-3952 303 ARNICA MONTANA L. AS A MEDICINAL CROP SPECIES Camelia SAVA SAND Lucian Blaga University from Sibiu, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Food Engineering and Environment Protection, 5-7 Dr. Ioan Ratiu, Sibiu, Sibiu County, Romania Email:camelia.sand@yahoo.com Corresponding author: camelia.sand@yahoo.com Abstract The increased demands on the market for pharmaceutical plants from the wild put a high pressure for their future conservation and therefore they need protection. Thus, species such as Arnica montana L well known for their medicinal effects in a range of human diseases became for long time a target for being collected from the wild. Still, since 1977 the species is declared as nature monument and later on it is protected under the current legislative framework for nature protection. However the transfer of the plant into the crop filed my further support the access to this genetic resource without any harm on the wild species. The scope of this article is to analyse if Arnica montana may change the profile of volatile oil if it is transferred from the wild into the crop field. Based on morphometry and biochemical analysis it can be considered that arnica may become a medicinal crop plant as no changes in their volatile oil composition was observed. Key words: Arnica montana, crops, field cultivation, pharmaceuticals, Romania INTRODUCTION The drug market is fast heading toward the replacement of common drugs of chemical synthesis with those of natural origin and in particular derived from plants. But it is necessary to pay special attention to the origin of plant extracts especially when the species are to become endangered and therefore new conservation measures should be in place. Thus, Arrnica montana L., a species quite common in Romania until recent years they have been recognized that it was a drastic reduction in their population [4, 10, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24]. As a consequence this species was included in Annex 5 of the Governmental Emergency Ordinance GEO 57/2007 [1]. Therefore in order to cover the current market demands it is necessary to establish in vitro micropropagation protocols [13, 16, 25] and specialized farms for medicinal crops, especially in areas where climatic conditions are most favourable to the species, in our case the mountain region. Arnica is a herbaceous plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family, that is particularly prevalent in sub-alpine region, through hayfields and wet pastures throughout the Carpathians and recognized as a acid- neutrophil species [3]. The rhizome is cylindrical, thick, from which fibrous roots are forming. The stems is erect, cylindrical, simple, high up to 60 cm rarely branched, with short hairs, finished with an inflorescence. Yellow flowers are arranged in a head, ligulae are marginal, and tube shape are central [3]. The flowers are rich in active pharmaceutical compounds such as volatile oil, arnidiol, arnisterina, faradiol, astragalin and carotenoids; the roots contain, in addition to volatile oil and caffeic acid, fumaric acid and succinic also inulin and thymol, etc. The most important feature, in terms of therapeutic compounds are Sesquiterpene lactones (especially helenalin) [17]. Flowers extracts are used in human and veterinary medicine, including homeopathy [6]. The active principles have antiseptic (e.g. treatment of burn), inflammatory (e.g. rheumatic, anti-hemorrhoidal) anti-sclerotic, choleretic, cholagogue, diuretic, blood pressure regulator, etc [24]. Although some studies have shown a potential for toxic side effects even at high doses of alcohol extraction, a recent study has disproved these claims, however recommending the use of Arnica preparations based on only for external