Anatomical Structure, Metabolomic Profile, and Ethnobotanical Uses of Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. (Asteraceae) in Türkiye

Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. is a medicinally important species of the Asteraceae family widely distributed in Türkiye; however, comprehensive studies integrating anatomical, ethnobotanical, and metabolomic characteristics of the species remain limited. In the present study, the anatomical structure, traditional uses, and organ-specific metabolomic profile of A. minus were investigated. Anatomical analyses were performed on root, stem, petiole, and leaf cross-sections using light microscopy. The species was characterized by a well-developed periderm in roots, collateral vascular bundles, tangential and lacunar collenchyma in aerial organs, abundant multicellular trichomes, Ranunculaceous-type stomata, and calcium oxalate crystals in leaf tissues. Ethnobotanical data compiled from different regions of Türkiye revealed that the species is traditionally used for wound healing, rheumatism, inflammation, abscess treatment, common colds, and gastrointestinal disorders. Untargeted metabolomic profiling of root and leaf methanolic extracts of six individual plants was carried out using Q-TOF LC/MS in positive ionisation mode. After blank filtering, 2,535 features were retained, of which 384 were putatively annotated at the molecular-formula level by accurate-mass matching against a plant metabolite library; 94 annotated features were detected only in roots, 112 only in leaves and 109 in both organs. Principal component analysis showed a clear separation of root and leaf extracts along PC1 (47.6% of variance). Exploratory pathway enrichment analysis indicated that root-specific annotations were mainly associated with amino acid and coenzyme A-related pathways, whereas leaf-specific annotations were associated with one-carbon/folate and tryptophan metabolism and a broader range of specialised metabolite classes. These findings provide anatomical and metabolomic data supporting the pharmacognostic characterisation of A. minus, and identify organ-specific metabolite classes for future targeted confirmation.