DISTRIBUTION OF MYRISTICIN IN SEEDS OF UMBELLIFRAE

Seeds of 100 species from fifty genera of the Umbelliferae were surveyed for the psychotropic aromatic ether myristicin. It was found for the first time in the tribe Caucalideae, in Daucus glochidiatus, Pseudorlaya pumila and P. minuscula. Its presence in the tribes Peucedaneae (three genera) and Apieae (eight genera) was confirmed. Variation within species was noted in that it occurred in seed of both the cultivated parsnip Pastinaca sativa and the cultivated fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) but was absent from wild collections of these species. The only genus where it occurred regularly was Oenanthe (in all of five species examined). It could not be detected in any other of the Umbelliferae tribes nor in the related family, Araliaceae, and thus appears to be rare as a seed constituent. © 1970.