Consolida

Abstract: Many members ofRanunculaceae contain unusual fatty acids in their seed oils. This leads to rather typical genus-specific fatty acid patterns or “fingerprints” in these seed oils. The members of theDelphinioideae and/orHelleboroideae, however, do not contain highly unusual fatty acids. Nevertheless, their seed oil fatty acid fingerprints are also fairly typical and genus-specific, and the patterns found are rather consistent throughout several species of one genus. It was found that species ofAconitum do not contain fatty acids with 20 carbon atoms.Delphinium, Consolida, Helleborus, Nigella and others do contain C20 fatty acids. In allHelleborus species, for example, there was a consistent C20 fatty acid pattern of 20:0≪20:1≫20:2>20:3. Species ofNigella andGaridella contain high levels,Helleborus low levels, of 20:2n-6 in their seed oils.Delphinium andAconitum both contain low levels of 18:3n-3, whereasHelleborus spp. consistently show high levels of this fatty acid. The genus-specific fatty acid patterns found are discussed, and a correlation with the subfamily and tribe affiliation of the genera investigated here is attempted.

Abstract: Data in the literature up to 1998 on hetisane-type diterpenoid alkaloids isolated from plants of the generaAconitum, Consolida, Delphinium, Thalictrum,andSpireaare reviewed and systematized. Data on the chemistry and physicochemical methods of studying the structures and pharmacology of hetisane alkaloids are generalized. An alphabetical list of 107 hetisane alkaloids with an indication of the plant source, structure, characteristic derivatives, physicochemical data, and references to the original literature is presented

Abstract: In phytochemical and chemotaxonomic research work mass spectrometry plays an outstandingly important role. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) we established the chemotaxa of Tanacetum vulgare L. Chemotypes with essential oils containing 60-90% of artemisia ketone, carveol, dihydrocarvone, myrtenol, umbellulone, terpinen-4-ol, davanone, and Tagetes species containing various essential oils can be clearly distinguished by their spectra; we examined many variations of Tagetes erecta, T. lucida, T. minuta, T. patula and T. tenuifolia. We have identified alpha-beta-pinene-, 1,8-cineol-, linalool-, camphor-, nerol-, geraniol- and gamma-gurjonene as components of Achillea distans L. Injecting the essential oil direct from the oil-secreting organs of T. minuta plants we identified using GC/MS 6-10 and 16% eugenol from the involucral bract and hypsophyll, respectively, as well as beta-ocimene, dihydrotagetone, tagetone, Z- and E-ocimenones. In the course of studies on essential fatty acids Borago officinalis and Lappula squarrosa were selected from 70 species of the family Boraginaceae to obtain seed oil as a source of gamma-linolenic acid, and for the PG synthesis we isolated several grams of gamma-linolenic acid, as well as C18:4, i.e. octadecatetraenic acid, from L. squarrosa on the basis of the mass spectra. From the seed oil of Aquilegia vulgaris C18:3 (5) from the oil of Limnanthes dougloasii C20:1 (5) and from the seed oils of Delphinium consolida and of Tropaeolum species (T. majus, T. minus, T. peregrinum) C20:1 (11) fatty acids were identified on the basis of spectra.

Abstract: Several plant genera belonging to the family Ranunculaceae exhibit highly genus-specific seed oil fatty acid patterns. Seed oils of various Nigella species and of one Garidella species were investigated with regard to their fatty acid composition. All seed oils contained noticeable amounts of dihomo-linoleic acid (20: 2n-6, or 11,14-cis, cis-eicosadienoic acid, 20: 2Δ11c, 14c). This is in some contrast to published literature on Nigella sativa oils which are used in Mediterranean and Near Eastern countries as an edible oil. Investigated were authentic seed oils from Nigella sativa, N. damascena and N. arvensis and also a sample of the very closely related Garidella nigellastrum. Related seed oils (of two Consolida and one Delphinium spp.) and a sample of Turkish « Corek » spice were also analyzed for comparison. The seed oil fatty acid fingerprints obtained from all the Nigella species show that 20: 2n-6 was the largest peak of the C 20 fatty acids group, i.e. the peak height ratios of 20:1 to 20:2 were reversed from those in most normal vegetable oils. In all Nigella species investigated, 20:2 was the much larger peak than 20: 1. This is believed to be a chemotaxonomic criterium for Nigella, although the fatty acid 20: 2n-6 has been found also in a number of other Ranunculaceae. In Garidella, 20: 2n-6 was also present but here 20: 1n-9 was the larger peak of the C 20 fatty acids group and even approached the levels found in Consolida. The question why in analyses of several commercial types of black cumin oil (Nigella sativa oil) 20: 2n-6 has not been found could not be solved and needs to be investigated.