Nutritional value of Mediterranean sheep's burnet (Sanguisorba minor ssp. muricata).

A survey of compositional characteristics of the aerial part of sheep's burnet (Sanguisorba minor ssp. muricata) growing in Mediterranean French pastures has been undertaken. Investigations with scanning electron microscopy gave the morphological structure of this plant, in particular for akene ornamentation. Taxonomic characters confirmed the identification of the muricata subspecies. Moisture, ash, free sugars, cellulose, amino acids, and fatty acids of the whole aerial part were determined. Besides the major component, cellulose (20.4%), amino acid analysis showed that proteins contained mainly glutamic acid plus glutamine (0.67%) and aspartic acid plus asparagine (0.56%). The main fatty acids were palmitic (29.1%), linoleic (22.6%), and linolenic (21.4%).