Determination of heavy metal levels in medicinal plant Hemerocallis minor Miller by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Contamination of edible plants by toxic metals is a threat for human health. We applied for the first time applied the non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) to determine concentrations of heavy metals, i.e., Fe, Ti, Mn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Sr and Ba in plant Hemerocallis minor Miller and soils. Because this plant is used in folk medicine, the metal content assessment is important for specifying relevance of application to produce drugs. This paper considers the distribution of elements between different parts of plant (rhizome, stalk, leaves and flowers). The contents of metals were determined as varying in flowers and leaves depending on the time of sampling. The acquired concentrations of elements have been compared with toxic levels provided in literature.