STUDIES ON THE CULTIVATION AND EVALUATION OF CHAMOMILAE-FLOS - SEASONAL-VARIATION IN PRODUCTION OF THE HEAD (CAPITULA) AND ACCUMULATION OF GLYCOSIDES IN THE CAPITULA OF MATRICARIA-CHAMOMILLA L

In order to know the appropriate harvest time in the cultivation of th e medicinal plant, M. chamomilla L., we investigated seasonal variatio ns in the yield of the head (capitula) and the content of two phenylpr opanoid glycosides; cis-(1) and trans-2-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy-4-met hoxy cinnamic acid (2) and one flavonoid glycoside; cosmosiin (3) in t he head for three months of the flowering time from May to July in 199 3. The maximum head size was observed at the beginning of May, and the n the size decreased as the development of ligulate flowers retarded. But tubular flowers did not decrease significantly. The content of 1 w as the highest among the three glycosides during the flowering time. T he values were about 2.0% and 0.5% for 1 and 2, respectively, from the end of May to the middle of June. Then the content of 1 decreased rap idly but 2 decreased gradually. The decline of these two kinds of glyc oside was accompanied with a diminution of the ligulate flowers. The c ontent of 3 became higher in an early time. The results showed that th e appropriate time for the harvest of the head for the crude drug were from the beginning of May to the middle June. After this time, though external appearance of the head were unfavorable, the content of 1+2 was at the same level as that in the commercial flowers.