Comparative Analysis of Organic Extracts Bioactivity from Two Limonium. Mill Species Growing Wild in Tunisian Salty Marshes

Limonium. Mill is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Plumbaginaceae family. The present study aimed to compare two Limonium species (L. pruinosum Kuntze and L. tunetanum (Barratte & Bonnet) Maire) in terms of their chemical composition and bioactivity. Chemical profiling showed that the methanolic (MeOH) extracts of both species were the most enriched with total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) contents. The TFC were higher in L. tunetanum compared to L. pruinosum. HPLC‐DAD analysis showed that distinctly the gallic acid and L‐tyrosine 7‐amido‐4‐methylcoumarin were the main compounds for L. pruinosum and L. tunetanum, respectively. For both Limonium. Mil species, the MeOH extracts displayed the highest antioxidant with IC50 of 7.7 and 8.4 μg/mL for L. pruinosum and L. tunetanum, respectively. The highest anti‐15‐lipoxygnase activity was recorded in the ethyl acetate (IC50=14.2 μg/mL) and Methanol (IC50=15.6 μg/mL) extracts for L. pruinosum. However, for L. tunetanum the best activity was recorded for dichloromethane extract (IC50=10.4 μg/mL). L. pruinosum extracts displayed the highest cytotoxic activity against MCF‐7 and HCT‐116 cell lines compared to L. tunetanum ones. The obtained bioactivity discrepancy between Limonium. Mill species was discussed in relation to the organic extract chemical richness.