## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Spectrophotic Profiles of Flowers  
The flowers were assessed for total phenolic content (TPC) and antiradical (ABTS\({}^{\bullet+}\)) and antioxidant (FRAP) activity on wet basis. The results are given in Table 2. It was observed that TPC and antiradical and antioxidant activity significantly varied among the studied flower extracts. Therefore, TPC ranged from 0.92 to 18.55 mg GAE per g of flower. The antiradical capacity of flowers varied from 2.42 to 43.88 mg of TE per g of flower, while the antioxidant activity of flowers extended from 3.06 to 130.96 mg of Fe(II) per g of flower. The highest TPC and antioxidant activity, as determined by FRAP assay, were found in the red China rose, followed by the orange Mexican marigold. The lowest TPCs and antiradical and antioxidant activities were found in pink lily, in pink carnation and white lantana, and in purple common snapdragon, respectively. In accordance with our results, [PERSON] et al. [8] reported that red rose and Mexican marigold possessed high total phenolic and flavonoid contents.  
High positive Pearson's correlations (\(p<0.01\)) were found between TPC and antiradical activity (R = 0.936), TPC and antioxidant activity (R = 0.816) as well as antiradical and antioxidant activity (R = 0.731). This indicates that phenolic compounds measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu assay contribute significantly to the antiradical and antioxidant activities of flower extracts. In accordance with the above result, other studies reported that the antioxidant activities of flowers were significantly correlated with total phenolic contents [1; 35]. Moreover, the _in vitro_ biological activities of edible flowers are possibly attributed to the presence of various compounds, such as natural pigments and other substances, especially carotenoids, flavonoids (flavonols, flavones and flavanols), coumarins, phenolic acids (hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinamic acids), anthocyanins, tannins, terpenoids and alkaloids [1; 7; 35].  
Another interesting finding was that the flowers belonging to the family Rosaceae, Composite, Primulaceae, Violaceae and Plumbaginaceae appeared to have higher TPCs as well as antiradical and antioxidant activities than the flowers of other families. Furthermore, in some cases, the colors of flowers of the same family seemed to significantly affect TPC, antiradical and antioxidant activity values, as shown in the case of lantana flowers (yellow lantana versus white and pink lantana) and sowbread flowers (red spring sowbread versus white and fuchsia spring sowbread). According to the study of [PERSON] et al. [36], flower color is associated with the presence of specific compounds. Therefore, it was shown that red-, pink-, magenta- and red-purple-colored flowers are generally rich in anthocyanins, such as pelargonidin, cyanidin, delphinidin, peonidin, petunidin and malvidin. The blue,  
Figure 1: Overlay of ATR\(-\)FTIR spectra, acquired from 4000 to 499 cm\({}^{-1}\) for the flower samples. Different spectrum color line correspond to different flower sample.  
purple and violet colors of flowers are mainly attributed to the presence of petunidin, malvidin, delphinidin and their methylated derivatives. In addition, the yellow hue of flowers is due to the presence of carotenoids and some flavonoids. Finally, flavonoids and flavonoids, such as quercetin and apigenin, are found in almost all white flowers.