Comparison of the triterpenoid content of berries and leaves of lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea from Finland and Poland.

Triterpenoid compounds extracted from fruits and leaves of lingonberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) collected in Finland and Poland were identified and quantitated by GC-MS/FID. The main lingonberry triterpenoid profile consisted of α-amyrin, β-amyrin, betulin, campesterol, cycloartanol, erythrodiol, fern-7-en-3β-ol, friedelin, lupeol, sitosterol, stigmasterol, stigmasta-3,5-dien-7-one, swert-9(11)-en-3β-ol, taraxasterol, urs-12-en-29-al, uvaol, oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid. To our knowledge, this is the first thorough description of triterpenoid compounds in this species. Ursolic acid was identified as a principal triterpene in lingonberry fruit. The influence of geographical origin on the level of individual triterpenoid compounds was examined, and considerable variations in triterpenoid profile between berries and leaves obtained from the two locations were observed. The most striking difference concerned the occurrence of fernenol and taraxasterol, which were found to be the major triterpenol in lingonberry leaves of Finnish and Polish origin, respectively.