Phytochemical characteristics evaluation of 25 Hypericum perforatum L. populations in Iran's natural habitats

Hypericin and hyperforin compounds are considered as the main active constituents of Hypericum perforatum L. In this research، phytochemical variations of 25 St. John’s Wort populations in Iran’s natural habitats were investigated. Plants were sampled randomly at the full flowering stage from Golestan، Mazandaran، Gilan، East Azerbaijan، West Azerbaijan، Ardabil، Kurdistan، Hamedan، Kohgiloyeh and Boyr-Ahmad، Qazvin، Zanjan، Khorasan and Tehran provinces during the spring and summer of 2010. Results indicated that the differences in the amounts of hypericin and hyperforin of leaf and flower tissues were found to be significant among populations (P<0. 05). Flower tissues had more hypericin and hyperforin amounts as compared to leaf tissues. The amount of hyperforin in both tissues was higher than that of hypericin significantly. Simple correlation analysis showed positive significant correlations between leaf hypericin with dark and light glands density on the leaf and light glands density on the leaf surface area as well as positive significant correlation between leaf hyperforin and leaf hypericin. The principal components analysis indicated that the two components explained 66% of the total variance. The cluster analysis divided these populations into three groups with no consistency in their geographical distribution. In conclusion، the results indicated high variations of phytochemical characters among St. John’s Wort populations in Iran’s natural habitats، which can be utilized in the breeding programs.