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Both names Ferulago campestris (Besser 1822: 44) Grecescu (1898: 252) and F. galbanifera (Miller 1768: no pagination) Koch (1835: 302) are used now simultaneously for one taxon which is widely distributed from southwestern Europe to southwestern Russia. On the one hand, the name F. campestris is used in such sources as Flora of URSS (Schischkin 1951), Flora Europaea (Cannon in Tutin 1968), a monographic study of the genus Ferulago (Bernardi 1979), The Euro Med treatment of Apiaceae (Hand 2011), GBIF database (GIBF 2020), and numerous articles. On the other hand, F. galbanifera is mentioned in Flora of Turkey (Peşmen in Davis 1972), Plantae Vasculares URSS (Czerepanov 1981), Umbelliferae of Russia (Pimenov & Ostroumova 2012), The Plant List (2013 onwards), and numerous articles. This name is also mentioned as the type of Ferulago subgen. Galbanifera Pimenov & Tomkovich in Tomkovich & Pimenov (1987: 968).

Ferulago campestris (Besser) Grecescu (Apiaceae), a perennial herb, has been traditionally used for the treatment of intestinal worms, haemorrhoids, ulcers, snake bites, as well as headache and dis...

Umbelliprenin has recently been shown to have great potential as a skin whitening agent. Wishing to investigate the same effect in plant species known to biosynthesize this coumarin, three plants belonging to the Apiaceae family, namely Anethum graveolens L. (dill), Pimpinella anisum L. (anise), and Ferulago campestris (Besser) Grecescu (field ferula) were screened by HPLC analysis for their respective content of umbelliprenin in extracts obtained with different solvent mixtures and by maceration and ultrasound-assisted processes. EtOH was shown to be the best solvent, providing umbelliprenin yields ranging from 1.7% to 14.4% (with respect to the total amount of extract obtained). Extracts with the highest content of this farnesyloxycoumarin were then assayed as modulators of melanogenesis in cultured murine Melan A cells employing the same umbelliprenin obtained by chemical synthesis as the reference. A parallelism between the content of the coumarin and the recorded depigmenting effect (60% for the EtOH extract of F. campestris as the best value) was revealed for all plants extracts when applied at a dose of 100 μg/mL. Our results demonstrate that the same potential of umbelliprenin can be ascribed also to umbelliprenin-enriched plant extracts which reinforces enforce the widespread use of phyto-preparations for cosmetic purposes (e.g., A. graveolens).

The essential oil of different parts of Ferulago campestris (Bess.) collected in Sicily has been extracted by microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and by classic hydrodistillation (HD). A comparative qualitative-quantitative study on the composition of the oils was carried out. A total of 100 compounds were identified in the oils obtained by MAHD, whereas 88 compounds characterized the HD oils. The most prominent components were, in all different parts of F. campestris and in both extraction methods, 2,4,5-trimethylbenzaldehyde and 2,4,6-trimethylbenzaldehyde isomers; the latter was not previously found. The attempt to evaluate where the oil components are located in all parts of the plant was carried out by means of a kinetic study. Then, electron microscopy observation on the different parts before and after MAHD and HD was performed.

Ferulago campestris (Besser) Grec., (Ferula galbanifera (Mill) Kock. = F. campestris), finocchiazzo, is an annual or perennial herb of the Mediterranean area. In this paper the phytochemical studies of the CH2Cl2 and MeOH extracts of the flowers are described. Several ferulol derivatives and a new 10-hydroxy-verbenone ester (7) were isolated. The structure of the new compound was established by extensive NMR analysis, including HMBC and HSQC pulse sequences.

Plants of the genera Ferula and Ferulago are known for their complex content in bioactive secondary metabolites such as coumarins, phenylpropanoids, and sesquiterpenes. We used the ground parts of Ferula communis subsp. communis, Ferula glauca subsp. glauca and Ferulago campestris as natural sources for the isolation of four coumarins (CU-1 to CU-4), two phenylpropanoids (PE-1 and PE-2), one polyacetylene (PA-1) and 16 daucane esters (DE-1 to DE-16). The cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated against a panel of seven human tumor cell lines. Fourteen of the daucane derivatives showed antiproliferative activity at least against one of the human tumor cell lines tested, four compounds (DE-5, DE-8, DE-11, and DE-16) were active against all the tested cell lines. Among them DE-11 was the most cytotoxic compound against HeLa (4.4 ± 0.7 μM), A549 (2.8 ± 1.4 μM), HL-60 (2.6 ± 0.4 μM), K562 (26.5 ± 6.0 μM) RS 4;11 (1.7 ± 0.3 μM) and SEM (2.4 ± 0.1 μM) cell lines, while DE-8 was the most active against Jurkat (3.3 ± 0.8 μM). Preliminary structure-activity relationship suggests that the most active compounds in the daucane series present the trans fusion of the penta- and hepta-atomic cycles, and lipophylic ester groups linked to position 6. Isomeric derivatives such as DE-8 and DE-9 or DE-3, DE-4, and DE-5 exhibited significant differences in their IC(50) supporting that the β orientation for the ester group in the position 2 enhances the cytotoxic activity. Furthermore, the pro-apoptotic effect of the most active compounds evaluated in Jurkat cell line showed that these compounds are able to induce apoptosis in a time and concentration-dependent manner. Our findings suggest the potential role of daucane derivatives as models for the development of proapoptotic compounds.

The species Agonopterix tripunctaria sp. nov. and Agonopterix medelichensis sp. nov. are described. A. tripunctaria, previously misidentified as Agonopterix nodiflorella (Milliere, 1866), was recognized as specifically different by the distinctive male genitalia. 19 specimens have been examined, DNA-barcoding yielded full 658 bp fragment of COI from two specimens and a 639 bp sequence from a third, confirming the impression of a rather isolated species. Specimens from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Greece had been checked, among them one reared from Ferulago campestris. A. medelichensis was misidentified as Agonopterix rotundella (Douglas, 1846) in NHMV; its male genitalia are erroneously depicted as A. rotundella in Hannemann (1953) and (1995). 20 specimens have been examined, from one a 555 bp fragment of COI was obtained, confirming that it is not closely related to A. rotundella. Specimens from Austria, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Greece have been checked, among them one reared from Trinia glauca, which had been misidentified as A. hippomarathri. A report of A. rotundella from Russia also belongs to this species.

Grandivittin (1), agasyllin (2), aegelinol benzoate (3) and felamidin (20), four natural coumarins isolated from Ferulago campestris, and several synthetic ester derivatives of aegelinol (4) were tested against four tumor cell lines. Some of them were shown to be marginally cytotoxic against the A549 lung cancer cell line.