TABLE 4.

Application of ICP-MS in the determination of heavy metal elements in medicinal materials derived from the flowers of plants.

Latin name	Medical system	Therapeutic use	Main pharmacological effects	Origin of medicinal materials a	Test results
Carthamus tinctorius L.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, tumbling injury	Anti-inflammation, anti-aging, anti-tumor, and anti-arrhythmia	Xinjiang, Henan provinces or autonomous regions of China	1) The contents of various elements in C. tinctorius L. in Xinjiang and Henan provinces of China were determined. 19 elements in safflower include heavy metals As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and healthy elements Al, Ca, Co, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, P, Se, Sr, V, and Zn. The contents of heavy metals in the samples are low. Except for Pb in Xinjiang samples, the rest meet the national health standards (Jia et al., 2011)
					2) The contents of 22 trace elements Li, Be, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Sr, Mo, Pb, Ag, Cd, In, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, and Bi in C. tinctorius L. were determined. The correlation coefficients of regression equations of all elements were >0.99. The recovery was 85.9%–107.2%. Except for Ni, Zn, and Ag, the content of the other 19 elements in C. tinctorius L. is high (Yin et al., 2014)
Crocus sativus L.	Tibetan medicine	Amenorrhea, symptoms, depression, stuffiness, palpitation, and madness	Anti-tumor and immune regulation	—	The contents of 22 trace elements Li, Be, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Sr, Mo, Pb, Ag, Cd, In, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, and Bi in C. sativus L. were determined. Each element r > 0.99. The recovery was 85.9%–107.2%. The contents of Ni, Zn, and Ag in C. sativus L. were high (Yin et al., 2014)
Chrysanthemum morifolium (Ramat.) Hemsl.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Cold, intestinal carbuncle	Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-aging, and antioxidant	Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces of China	1) The contents of Pb, Cd, As, Hg, and Cu in C. morifolium (Ramat.) Hemsl. from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces of China were determined. The RSD of precision, repeatability, and stability of the five elements is less than 3.0%, and the recovery rate (n = 6) is 87.9%–105.8% (Deng et al., 2020)
					2) The contents of 16 elements Pb, Cd, As, Hg, Cu, Sb, Sn, Cr, Ni, Ba, Mn, Tl, Ag, Be, Dy, and Al in C. morifolium (Ramat.) Hemsl. were determined. The linear relationship of the standard curves of 16 elements is good. The linear correlation coefficient of all elements is r > 0.9995, the detection limit is 0.002–0.455 g·kg−1, the recovery of each element is 84%–107%, and the RSD < 5% (Xi et al., 2012)
Chrysanthemum indicum L.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Eye pain, headache, dizziness	Antibacterial, antiviral, anti-tumor, hypotensive, and hypolipidemic	Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces of China	The contents of 18 elements As, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ga, Hg, Li, Mo, Ni, Sb, Se, Pb, Rb, Sr, and Zn in C. indicum L. in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces of China were determined. The contents of inorganic elements of C. indicum L. in different provinces were different (Chen et al., 2020d)
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit	Traditional Chinese medicine	Diabetes	Bacteriostasis	Yunnan province of China	The contents of 27 metal elements such as Li, Be, B, Mg, Al, Co, Ni, Ga, Rb, Sr, Te, Ba, Bi, U, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Tl, and Pb in the seed and seed coat of L. leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit produced in Jianshui County, Yunnan provinces of China were determined. Eight metal elements such as Co, Ni, Cr, Zn, Se, Mo, Ag, and Pb were not detected. The detection limits of the method were Fe 9.789, Cr 2.691, Zn 1.803, B 2.076, Mg 1.977, Al 3.024, Ni 1.824 ng/ml, and other elements 0.003–0.921; RSD of seed precision 0.141%–11.86%, RSD of seed coat precision 0.044%–31.14%, and recovery between 90.8% and 107.1% (Zhang et al., 2012b).
Lonicera hypoglauca Miq.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Throat obstruction, erysipelas	Antiviral microorganism, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumor	Shandong province of China	The contents of Li, Be, Ga, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in L. hypoglauca Miq. and Lonicera confusa DC. were determined. The linear relationship of each element is good. The detection limit of the method is 0.004–0.071 μg·L−1. Good precision and accuracy. The recovery is in the range of 80%–100% (Xu and Liu, 2015)
Lonicera japonica Thunb.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Heatstroke, throat obstruction, various infectious diseases	Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, hypolipidemic, and hypoglycemic	Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Chongqing, Hubei provinces or municipalities of China	1) The contents of 27 metal elements Li, Be, B, Mg, Al, Co, Ni, Ga, Rb, Sr, Te, Ba, Bi, U, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Tl, and Pb in L. japonica Thunb. produced in Hubei province of China were determined. The detection limits of the method were 9.789 ng/ml for Fe, 2.691 ng/ml for Cr, 1.803 ng/ml for Zn, 2.076 ng/ml for B, 1.977 ng/ml for Mg, 3.024 ng/ml for Al, 1.824 ng/ml for Ni, 0.003–0.921 ng/ml for other elements, 0.146%–7.627% for precision, and 90.0%–110.0% for recovery (Shu et al., 2012)
					2) The contents of Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Hg, Ni, Mn, Cu, and Zn in L. japonica Thunb. were determined. The content of Cd was the highest (40.2%), followed by Cu (37.6%) and Pb (8.5%). As and Hg do not exceed the standard value, and Cr, Ni, Mn, and Zn are not limited (Fan et al., 2020)
Wikstroemia chamaedaphne (Bunge) Meisn.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Acute infectious hepatitis, chronic infectious hepatitis, schizophrenia, epilepsy	Anti hepatitis B virus	Shanxi and Anhui provinces of China	The contents of harmful elements Cu, Cd, Pb, As, and Hg in W. chamaedaphne (Bunge) Meisn. were determined. Cu, Pb, Cd, and As in 0.5–100 μg/L, Hg in 0.1–10 μg/L showed a good linear relationship, r ≥ 0.99, and the recovery was 95.24%–101.16% (Li et al., 2020a)
Zea mays L.	Traditional Chinese medicine	Jaundice, cholecystitis, hypertension	Anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, antibacterial, antioxidant	Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Henan provinces of China	The contents of inorganic elements such as B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sn, Ti, Sb, Ba, Hg, Tl, and Pb in Zea mays L. were determined. The content of the K element is the highest, 16,436.57–19,599.22 mg/kg. The content of Mn in trace elements is the highest, 27.22–36.19 mg/kg (Chen et al., 2020b)

^aNote: the origin of medicinal materials recorded in the table is collected from the articles.

If the origin of medicinal materials is not recorded in the articles, it is indicated by “—.”