# Mineral Composition of _Chelidonium majus_ L. and Soils in Urban Areas
## 4 Discussion  
The elemental composition of _Ch. majus_ has not been studied in detail to date, despite its status as a medicinal plant. Essential elements play a crucial role in plant metabolism, with some (Ca, Fe, Mg, P, S, K) being more significant than others (Al, Na) depending on the habitat [56]. Macroelements in the tissues of various plant species usually accumulate in the order K > Ca > Mg. Depending on the growth conditions, the calcium contents in plants can vary greatly, ranging from 0.1 to more than 5% Ca in the plant dry weight. Ca concentration in old leaves sometimes can reach more than 10% calcium in the dry matter without showing serious symptoms of growth inhibition [57]. They are called basic macroelements in higher plants due to the high demand for these elements for plant growth [36; 57]. Element content in plant tissues depends on many factors, such as the parent rock, soil type, anthropogenic sources, available forms of elements, plant species, and plant part (leaves, stems, roots). Studies on the mineral composition of _Ch. majus_, which have been published earlier, and our results show significant similarity and are partly consistent with the literature data [26; 45; 58]. Calcium (Ca) is a key structural element that stabilizes cell walls and membranes, regulates enzyme activity, and participates in cell division and elongation, which is why its share is higher than other elements [57]. In analyzed urban parks, Ca is usually stored in more significant amounts in leaves (25,100 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)--PK\(\backslash\)L-5 and 40,700 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)--PS-6) than in stems (6300 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)--PS-6, 9700 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) Psh-1) and roots (5400 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)--PS-6; 8900 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) Psh-2, Table 1), and plants take it up from the soil as Ca\({}^{2+}\) cations. Ca is relatively immobile in the phloem, accumulating in older parts of the plant, and fruits generally contain lower Ca levels than leaves [57]. The results of Ca content in _Ch. majus_ tissues obtained by [PERSON] et al. [26] differ from the results in this work. These authors found high Ca content in roots (19,240 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)) and lower content in leaves (11,871 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)), while in this study, the situation is reversed (Table 1). Similar contents of K (22,800 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)) in the rhizome and Ca (25,100 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\), in the leaves), as in the case of _Ch. majus_, were found in medicinal plants such as _Spondius mombin_ L. and _Zingiber officinal_ Rosc. [59], while [PERSON] & [PERSON] [36] show calcium content in _Artemisia dracunculus_ L. (Ca: 8160 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)) and _Plantago lancolata_ L. (Ca: 48,000 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline Major Elements & \\ \hline Leaves & K-Ca\(>\)P\(>\)Mg\(>\)S-Fe\(>\)Al-Na \\ Stems & K-Ca\(>\)P\(>\)Mg\(>\)S-Fe\(>\)Al-Na \\ Rhizomes & K-Ca\(>\)P\(>\)Mg\(>\)S-Fe\(>\)Al-Na \\ Soil & Fe-Ca\(>\)Al-Mg-S-S-K\(>\)P-Na \\ \hline Microelements and rare earth metals & \\ \hline Leaves & B\(>\)Sr-Ba\(>\)Ag\(>\)Rb-Ti-Mo\(>\)Ce-Li\(>\)Co-La\(>\)Sr-Zr\(>\)S-Sb\(>\)Ti-Cs\(>\)Ge-Nb\(>\)U-Hf-Ta \\ Stems & Rb-Ba\(>\)Sr-B\(>\)Ag-Ti-Mo\(>\)Ti-Li\(>\)Ce-La\(>\)Co-Zr\(>\)Y-Sm-Sb\(>\)Se-Hg-Ti-Ta \\ Rhizomes & Ag-Ba\(>\)Sr-B\(>\)B-Sb\(>\)Ti-Ce-Li\(>\)Mo-La\(>\)Co-Y-Ti-Zr\(>\)Sm-Sb\(>\)Ge-Cs\(>\)U-Nb\(>\)Hf-Ta \\ Soil & Ag-Ba\(>\)Sr-Y-Ce-La\(>\)Sn-Rb-Li\(>\)Y-Co-Ga\(>\)Sb-Be-Mo\(>\)Sc-Se-Au\(<\)Cs-U-W-Zr-Tb-Nb-Bi\(>\)Te-In-Ti \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Averaged for all parks and sorted from the highest to the lowest content of elements, individual plant parts and soil. A high concentration of Ca in therapeutic plants has also been demonstrated by other authors [60; 61].