Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
(eISSN: 2229-4473)
Phytochemical contribution of Baccharis cinerea (Asteraceae) to the botanical origin of the greenish-brown propolis from northeastern Brazil
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Costa Jônatas Oliveira, Borges Arthur Luy Tavares Ferreira, de Oliveira João Victor Lessa, Heiden Gustavo, Nascimento Ticiano Gomes do, Lins Ana Paula do Nascimento Prata
Research Articles | Published: 19 May, 2026
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Keywords: Artepillin C, Antioxidant capacity, Compositeae, Botanical source, UFLC-DAD
Abstract
Propolis is a resin collected by bees, whose chemical composition varies with local vegetation. This study investigated Baccharis cinerea as a potential botanical source of greenish-brown propolis from Alagoas, Brazil. UFLC-DAD analyses demonstrated the shared presence of cinnamic acid derivatives between the propolis and the plant, including caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and artepillin C, detected between 7–26 min (λmax 315 nm). The propolis (C-PRO) presented high contents of total phenolics (66.62%) and flavonoids (10.44%), while the extracts from the flowering branches ranged from 15.83–55.48% and 1.31–10.42%, respectively. In the DPPH assay, the propolis exhibited an IC₅₀ of 15.03 µg/mL, and the plant extracts ranged from 4.34–44.11 µg/mL. The results suggest B. cinerea as one of the possible botanical origins of the greenish-brown propolis from the mountainous region of Alagoas, based on the sharing of phenolic markers, representing the first record of this association.
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Author Information
Campus of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas – CECA/UFAL, Rio Largo, Brazil