Die Bitterstoffe der Cucurbitaceen

Cucurbitacins in plant food

“…Bryonia alba and Bryonia dioica contain cucurbitacins B, D, E, and I in the roots (Rehm, 1960). This observation has been confirmed by Konopa et al (1974a), who in addition identified cucurbitacin J, K and L, and tetrahydrocucurbitacin I, and Pohlmann (1975) who in addition identified dihydrocucurbitacin E and dihydrocucurbitacin B in roots of both species.…”

“…The non-bitter Eversweet cotyledons, in addition, contained similar quantities of an unidentified compound. Rehm (1960) reported that leaves of both bitter (Hanzil) and "sweet" strains of the cultured cucumber contain approximately 10 mg cucurbitacin C/kg fresh weight, whereas Van Keulen (1981) found mature top leaves of 10 different cucumber varieties to contain between 130 and 1130 mg cucurbitacin C/kg fresh weight.…”

“…Strains of the bottle gourd with bitter fruit have been shown to contain 100 mg bitter principles/kg root, whereas strains with "sweet" fruit have roots without bitter principles (Rehm, 1960). Seedlings of the strain with bitter fruit contained cucurbitacin E and traces of cucurbitacin B and cucurbitacin I in both radicles and cotyledons (Table 3).…”

“…The extremely high toxicity of these compounds has resulted in the abandonment of the pharmaceutical uses of the plant in recent years (Cassady and Suffness, 1980). Young leaves of the colocynth have a relatively low content of bitter principles, but old leaves and stems of this plant can contain as much as 1000-3000 mg cucurbitacins/kg plant material (Rehm, 1960). Recently, Seger and co-workers (2005) described 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosylcucurbitacins I, J, K and L in this plant.…”

“…Citrullus ecirrhosa is a perennial plant containing 0.9 % bitter principle in air-dried roots (Rehm, 1960).…”