The increasing interest in healthy and natural foods has raised the attention towards uncommon or unexplored ingredients, such as edible flowers. These products are proven to be a rich source of bioactive compounds, for example, vitamins or polyphenols that play an important role in health promotion and disease prevention. However, plant species with edible flowers are numerous and most of them still need to be studied with this aim. The high species richness of North-Western Italy provides interesting perspectives in the use of wild edible flowers, which are currently underutilized, but can be a valuable food source or food supplement for healthy diets. In this framework, the phytochemical composition of 22 wild edible flowers was analysed and compared with that of four cultivated species (Borago officinalis L., Calendula officinalis L., Tagetes patula L. and Tropaeolum majus L.) to evaluate their potentiality as sources of bioactive compounds. The total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity of the fresh flowers were assessed, together with their phenolic profiles and vitamin C content, through spectrophotometric and chromatographic analyses. The evaluated parameters varied widely among species, with Paeonia officinalis L. and Rosa pendulina L. showing the highest values of polyphenols (1,930 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) · 100 g⁻¹ and 1,774 mg GAE · 100 g⁻¹, respectively), followed by Rosa canina L. (1,397 mg GAE · 100 g⁻¹) and Geranium sylvaticum L. (1,268 mg GAE · 100 g⁻¹). The same species also showed the highest antioxidant activity, measured with three different assays [ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS)]. The phenolic profile differed among the studied species, with Dianthus pavonius Tausch and R. pendulina having the highest sum of detected polyphenols (2,522 mg · 100 g⁻¹ and 2,366 mg · 100 g⁻¹, respectively). Vitamin C was identified in all but two flowers (Allium ursinum L. and B. officinalis) and Primula veris L. had the highest amount (45 mg · 100 g⁻¹). The study showed that wild edible flowers outperformed the cultivated species, except for T. majus, providing new insights for the use of wild edible flowers as sources of bioactive compounds.

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探索野生食用花卉作为生物活性化合物的来源：园艺的新观点

人们对健康和天然食品的兴趣与日俱增，这引起了人们对诸如食用花卉之类的不常见或未开发成分的关注。这些产品被证明是丰富的生物活性化合物的来源，例如在促进健康和预防疾病中起重要作用的维生素或多酚。然而，具有食用花卉的植物种类繁多，其中大多数仍需要为此目的进行研究。意大利西北部的物种丰富度高，为野生食用花卉的使用提供了有趣的观点，目前这些野生食用花卉未得到充分利用，但可以成为健康饮食的宝贵食物来源或食品补充品。在此框架下，分析了22种野生食用花卉的植物化学组成，并将其与4个栽培种（Borago officinalis）的植物化学组成进行了比较。L.，金盏草，Tagetes patula L.和Tropaeolum majus L.），以评估其作为生物活性化合物来源的潜力。通过分光光度法和色谱分析法评估了鲜花的总多酚含量（TPC）和抗氧化活性，以及​​它们的酚类和维生素C含量。评估的参数在物种之间差异很大，其中e药和罗莎蔷薇显示多酚的最高值（分别为1,930 mg没食子酸当量（GAE）·100 g ^-1和1,774 mg没食子酸GAE·100 g ^-1） ，其次是Rosa caninaL.（1,397 mg GAE·100 g ^-1）和天竺葵L.（1,268 mg GAE·100 g ^-1）。同一物种还显示出最高的抗氧化活性，这是通过三种不同的测定方法测得的：[三价铁还原抗氧化能力（FRAP），2,2-二苯基-1-吡啶并肼基（DPPH）和2,2'-叠氮基-双-3-乙基苯并噻唑啉6-磺酸（ABTS）]。酚类特征在所研究的物种中有所不同，其中石竹（Dianthus pavonius Tausch）和戊齿红球菌（R. pendulina）的总多酚含量最高（分别为2522 mg·100 g ^-1和2366 mg·100 g ^-1）。除两朵花（葱属和B. officinalis）中均鉴定出维生素C）和樱草（Primula veris L.）的含量最高（45 mg·100 g ^-1）。研究表明，野生食用花卉的表现优于人工栽培的花木（T. majus），这为使用野生食用花卉作为生物活性化合物的来源提供了新的见解。