Ex situ studies on chemical and morphological variability of Hypericum perforatum L. in Lithuania

Abstract

This study describes the variation of hypericin and flavonoid contents in different accessions of Saint John’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum L. Twenty-one Lithuanian wild accessions as well as two cultivars, Polish ‘Topas’ and Russian ‘Zolotodolinskaya’, were studied under the same cultivated field conditions with the latter two used as control. The chemical and morphological investigations were carried out in two-year-old plants. Samples of flowering tops of H. perforatum were collected and analysed for hypericin and flavonoids using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The results showed that hypericin contents in flowering tops ranged within 0.23–1.24 mg/g; flavonoid contents varied in different accessions as follows: rutin 2.95–17.10 mg/g, hyperoside 0.42–31.13 mg/g, quercitrin 0.16 to 7.52 mg/g, and quercetin 0.37–1.90 mg/g. The results revealed a reliable relation between the contents of hypericin and the morphotypes of H. perforatum. Some of the accessions of H. perforatum are distinguished by higher contents of the secondary metabolites studied if compared with the cv. ‘Zolotodolinskaya’ and ‘Topas’ and could be used for breeding purposes. Keywords: Hypericum perforatum, hypericin, flavonoids, morphotypes