Narcissus and Daffodil

Figure 9.1 Narcissus ‘Carlton’.
Galanthamine extraction 259
CONTENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF GALANTHAMINE IN NARCISSUS
‘CARLTON’ THROUGH THE YEAR
It is obvious from the growth pattern of narcissus that the amount of plant material
available for galanthamine extraction varies greatly through the year, so it was
presumed that galanthamine content within the plant might also vary during the
year. It was already known that bulbs of narcissus harvested in March had significantly
lower anti-tumour activity than bulbs from the same variety harvested
between July and December (Fitzgerald et al., 1958). To determine if there is an
optimum time for the extraction of ‘Carlton’ bulbs for galanthamine, bulbs were
planted in the old botanical garden of Marburg University. Over a twelve month
period, samples were taken up to twice per week and tested for alkaloid and galanthamine
content. The key developmental dates for these plants were:
Bulbs planted: 27 September
First leaves emerged: 24 February
Start of flowering: 30 March
Crop in full flower: 19 April
Capsule dehiscence: 20 June
Leaves died down: 18 August
Using a large number of samples and with HPLC as a highly specific analytical
technique, significant results were obtained. Besides the quantitative determination
of galanthamine content, analytical HPLC gave very informative findings in