Insights into Wild Medicinal Plants: Assessing Mineral Profiles in the Ojhor Valley, Chitral, Pakistan

Nature is a huge and excellent pharmacy that hosts many medicinal plants, and since the green revolution has been preferred in recent years, it has become a significant focus of attention due to its healing, protective, and nutritional reasons. However, these studies mostly consist of studies related to biological activities and studies related to mineral profiling have been ignored. However, mineral elements play a major role in the production of secondary metabolites that give plants their unique properties; therefore, the novelty of this study is to investigate the mineral composition of 10 wild medicinal plants (WMPs) species belonging to 6 families growing in Ojhor valley, Chitral, Pakistan. Mineral profiling was determined in plant parts (leaves, stems, and fruits/flowers) depending on each species. Wide differences in mineral content were found among the plants examined. Main elements in detail analysis, the types of mineral substances in the leaves of the species, and the order of the species with the highest content were found as follows: Nepeta cataria L. (C 55.35%), Capparis spinosa L. (N 1.28%, Mg 0.65%, and Al 0.68%), Mentha longifolia (L.) L. (Si 1.33%, Co 0.11%), Matricaria chamomilla L. (Cl 0.9%) 3%, K 3.31%, Na 0.49%, P 0.09%, S 0.39%), Melilotus alba Desr. (Ca 2.27%), Nepeta cataria L. (Fe 0.38%), Heracleum polyadenum Rech. f. & Riedl. (Cu 0.97%, Zn 0.53%). The obtained data were explained and related using chemometric approaches (PCA, HCA analyses) and triangular heatmap with Pearson correlation matrix statistical methods. It was shown that most of the plants studied in depth were good mineral sources. While significant correlations were found among different minerals, similar results were consistently obtained and confirmed in plant parts with minor variations. The present study reveals the hitherto unidentified nutritional profile of WMPs in the region. According to the obtained results, it was concluded that the studied plants may provide a new and promising source of essential minerals for human diet and various other applications.