Chemical Composition and Quality Evaluation of Leaves of Acanthopanan trifoliatus( L. ) Merr

To assess the therapeutic and edible plant Acanthopanan trifoliatus(L.) Merr,some nutritional ingredients such as crude ash,crude fiber,crude protein,crude fat and mineral elements,active pharmaceutical ingredients(flavonoids and chlorogenic acid) in the leaves of Acanthopanan trifoliatus(L.) Merr were determined and analyzed.The result showed that in the leaves of Acanthopanan trifoliatus(L.) Merr,the content of crude ash,crude fiber,crude protein,crude fat were 2.75% 、2.34% 、4.63% and 4.13%,when compared with other 6 kinds of common vegetable,the content were almost 2 ~ 10 times higher than these common vegetables.The content of K,Ca,Mg,Fe,Mn,P,Zn,Na and Cu were 516.00,1061.00,86.58,8.13,4.18,156.12,9.61,8.27 and 0.044(mg /100 g).The content of Na and Cu were slightly lower compared with other 6 vegetables,whereas the other minerals were all equal or higher than these vegetables,among which the content of K,P,Ca,Mg,Fe,Mn,Zn were 4 ~ 15 times higher in the leaves of Acanthopanan trifoliatus(L.) Merr than that of the 6 common vegetables.The high content of its medicinal ingredients,flavonoids and chlorogenic acid,were 4.06% and 3.72%.These results demonstrated that Acanthopanan trifoliatus(L.) Merr was worthy to be developed as a plant of both medicine and food.