Investigation of the Variation in Chemical Composition of Tasmannia lanceolata Solvent Extracts

The solvent extract of Tasmannia lanceolata from a small community of plants was examined over 230 days of the growing season. The results from gas chromatography were analyzed using cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis. Two distinct groups of plants were identified, based on polygodial content and the entire range of components detected. The use of as many components as possible is recommended for the analysis, to give the most complete representation of the composition of the extracts. Within the low-polygodial group, the tendency was for polygodial levels to remain constant over time, whereas in the high-polygodial group, concentrations varied. Keywords: Cluster analysis; Tasmannia lanceolata; polygodial; gas chromatography