# Mineral Composition of _Chelidonium majus_ L. and Soils in Urban Areas
## 5 Conclusions  
_Chelidonium majus_, as a medicinal plant, grows on the edges of forests and in city parks, on soils transformed by man, whose properties are closely related to human activity. This act can directly or indirectly affect soils' and plants' chemical composition by taking the components necessary for growth from the soil. The study shows that the pattern of element distribution differs in the individual analyzed parts of the plant, such as the leaves, stem, and rhizome, both in terms of the value of macroelements and microelements:  
1. In all analyzed tissues, the dominant element in terms of content was potassium (K), with the highest value recorded in the stems of _Ch. majus_, while, in the soil, it had low values;
2. The highest calcium (Ca) content was found in the leaves in all locations, while, in the rhizomes and stems, the values differed between locations. Compared to K, Ca is characterized by a higher value in the soil;
3. The contents of phosphorus, magnesium, and sulfur in tissues and soil are varied, while sodium and aluminum have low values in both the underground and above-ground parts of _Ch. majus_. The contents of phosphorus, iron, magnesium. and sulfur in tissues and soil are varied. At the same time, sodium and aluminum have low values in both the underground and aboveground parts of _Ch. majus_, while high contents in the soil characterize Fe and Al;
4. In the case of microelements, boron (B) predominates in the leaves, rubidium (Rb) in the stems, and silver (Ag) in the rhizomes and soil;
5. The results of the analyzed environmental indicators I-geo, EF, and CF did not show (except for a few cases) significant changes in soil enrichment with major elements from external sources;
6. The study found good agreement between the results obtained in this work and the levels of elements in the literature on medicinal plants. However, higher values of some elements (Ba, K) were found in some samples.  
Determining the content of elements in terms of macro, micro, and rare earth elements in medicinal plants is important information for several reasons: to check the purity of plant tissues for potentially toxic major elements and to determine the presence of these elements in the soil, because the plant takes them from the soil, and, with a higher content of toxic elements, it may indicate that the plant should not be taken from this habitat for medicinal purposes. By conducting this study, it is also possible to monitor environmental pollution by repeating the study in the same area.  
**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15094718/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15094718/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15094718/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15094718/s1)), Table S1: Correlation coefficients between rhizomes and soil; Table S2: Correlation coefficients stems and soil; and Table S3: Correlation coefficients between rhizomes and soil.  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, O.R.; methodology, O.R., D.S. and S.P.; validation, O.R., and D.S.; formal analysis, O.R.; investigation, O.R.; data curation, O.R.; writing--original draft preparation, O.R.; writing--review and editing, D.S., T.K. and N.M.; visualization, O.R. and D.S.; supervision, O.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** This research received no external funding.  
**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Data Availability Statement:** The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.