The Ursolic Acid Content of Rumput Mutiara (Hedyotis corimbosa L.) Grown in Various Locations

Hedyotis corimbosa L. or Rumput Mutiara (Indonesian Local name) is one of the plants that is getting more famous as an herbal medicine and is consumed by the public to cure diseases or to maintain health. All parts of Hedyotis corimbosa L. can be used as an efficacious drug, which is an anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antipyretic, diuresis, blood circulation, antitoxin, etc. As an herbal ingredient, Hedyotis corimbosa L. is currently known as a wild plant that has not been popularly cultivated, thus the quality of Hedyotis corimbosa L. is varied. Therefore, it is necessary to map which areas produce Hedyotis corimbosa L. with highest ursolic acid. This study aimed to determine the content of ursolic acid in Hedyotis corimbosa L. from its various different growth locations. This research applied thin layer chromatography techniques and the analysis of variance with a level of α = 5% using Unbalanced Incomplete Block Design. The results showed that site altitude treatment did not show any significant difference in the number of leaves, root length, plant height, node length, stem diameter, number of branches, leaf width, leaf length, flower stem length, total extract Yield, and ursolic acid levels. Still, it showed significantly different effects on water content, dry rendement, and productivity. The correlation analysis showed that there is no significant correlation at α = 5% between ursolic acid content and root length, plant height, leaf width, leaf length, and total extract Yield while node length, stem diameter, number of branches, flower stem length, number of leaves, dry rendement and productivity showed a significantly positive correlation with ursolic acid content. Water content showed significantly negative correlation with ursolic acid content. The conclusion is that there is no significant difference in ursolic acid content from plants grown at low altitudes and medium altitude. However, the content of ursolic acid from medium altitude is relatively higher compared to ursolic acid content from low altitude. This implies that there is a tendency for ursolic acid content in Hedyotis corimbosa L. to be influenced by the conditions of its growth location so that cultivation treatment with different conditions will affect the ursolic acid content.