Umbelliferone in Needles of Picea abies *

Abstract A compound showing blue fluorescence under UV-light was isolated from spruce needles and identified as umbelliferone. Structure analysis was based on UV and mass spectroscopy as well as chromatographic comparison with authentic material. Quantitative evaluation by direct measurement of the fluorescence of the umbelliferone spot separated by TLC revealed that the umbelliferone content shows great variation within different individual trees ranging from 0.42-42 (μg/g fresh weight. Only minute amounts are present as free umbelliferone while the abundant part is present as β-glucoside.