Effect of Different Drying Methods on Some Biochemical Properties of Iranian Ox-tongue (Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey.)

Iranian ox-tongue (Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey.) belongs to Boraginaceae family and is an herbaceous and perennial endemic Iranian medicinal plant and naturally is grown in mountainous regions of North of Iran (Babakhanzadeh-Sajirani et al., 2014) at an altitude ranging from 60-2200 meters (Soltani, 2005; Mozaffarian, 1998). Flowers and leaves are the main medicinal parts of the Iranian ox-tongue (Abed et al., 2014). Dried violet– blue petals of ox-tongue in Iranian traditional medicine have been used as diaphoretic, tranquillizer, cough suppressant, tonic and as a remedy for sore throat (Amin, 1991; Mehrabani et al., 2005). The major components of Iranian ox-tongue petals including anthocyanin, flavonoids, saponins, unsaturated terpenoids, sterols and essential oils (Shafaghi et al., 2002). Journal of Herbal Drug