The aim of the study is a comparative evaluation of the antioxidant polyphenolic composition in Bulgarian medicinal plants and their fruits by determining the degree of similarity. In the present study, 18 different Bulgarian medicinal plants were studied, and for the determination of total phenols, a Folin-Chocalto reagent was used, oxidizing the phenols to a blue complex, which was determined spectrophotometrically at a wavelength of λ = 750 nm. The following ratios were kept in the preparation of the infusions: 1 g of drug/100 g of distilled water, and 5 g of fruit/100 g of distilled water. A comparative characterization of the selected medicinal plants and their fruits was performed by applying calculation methods and cluster analysis. The degree of similarity between the polyphenolic content of medicinal plants and their fruits was assessed to provide data for the development of effective antioxidant plant combinations. The results show that hawthorn flower infusions have the highest values of total phenols (191.35 ± 2.91 mg GAE/100 ml), followed by decocts of rose hips (166.50 ± 0.5 mg GAE/100 ml), forming individual clusters at hierarchical cluster analysis.
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