Furanocoumarin and polyacetylenic compound composition of wild Glehnia littoralis in North America

Individual plants of Glehnia littoralis (Apiaceae) collected at four coastal sites in western North America (California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia) were surveyed for their furanocoumarin and polyacetylene patterns and compared with those from plants collected in Japan. The rhizomes accumulated considerable amounts of two polyacetylenes, falcarindiol and panaxynol, but only a negligible amount of psoralen derivatives having a β,β-dimethylallyloxy or geranyloxy substituent at the 5- or 8-position. This pattern is comparable to that seen in plants growing wild in the southern parts of the Japanese Islands. The fruits were distinct, however, in lacking imperatorin and phellopterin, compounds that are major furanocoumarins in fruits of Japanese G. littoralis. These findings indicate that G. littoralis in North America can be distinguished from Japanese specimens by their pattern of accumulation of secondary metabolites in the fruit, whereas the rhizome chemistry of North American plants is similar to that of Glehnia from southern Japan.