Effects of Altitude on Leaf Character and Quality of Wild Artemisia Stolonifera in Dabie Mountains
Objective:To explore the effects of altitude on leaf character and quality of wild Artemisia stolonifera in Dabie Mountains.Methods:The leaf character,floss yield,floss burning quality and the mass fraction of leaf components of A.stolonifera were determined.Correlation analysis was used to screen the correlation indicators with altitude,and principal component analysis was carried out for comprehensive evaluation of leaf components.Results:With the increase of altitude,the leaf length and leaf width of A.stolonifera showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing,and the floss yield presented a gradual increase.Except for the poor comprehensive combustion characteristics and little combustion heat release of A.stolonifera leaf velvet at an altitude of 1720 m,the ignition performance,speed and stability after combustion,combustion persistence,burnout performance and combustion heat release were similar at other altitudes.By comparison of the mass fraction of leaf components,it was found that eucalyptus,α-copaene,caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide were generally higher at altitude≤1084 m;bornyl acetate and caryophyllene D were higher at altitude≥1550 m;chlorogenic acid,cryptochlorogenic acid and isochlorogenic acid C were higher at altitude≥1084 m.Correlation analysis revealed that altitude had no correlation with leaf character,but was positively related with floss yield,caryophyllene D,chlorogenic acid,cryptochlorogenic acid(P<0.01)and isochlorogenic acid C(P<0.05),and negatively related with caryophyllene oxide(P<0.01).Principal component analysis showed that the comprehensive score of leaf components of A.stolonifera at high altitudes was generally higher.Conclusion:Environmental differences due to different altitudes might be important factors contributing to varying leaf character,floss yield,floss burning quality and mass fraction of leaf components of wild A.stolonifera.This indicated that high altitude was more conducive to the growth of wild A.stolonifera.