Chemical constituents of Pteris cretica Linn. (Pteridaceae)

1. Subject and Source The group of fern from the genus Pteris (Pteridaceae) contains 250 cosmopolitan species (Mabberley, 1997). One species, P. cretica (Japanese name: ohbano-inomotoso) called Cretan brake fern is widely distributed in the temperate and warm area of Japan. Although some fern members of the family Pteridaceae are well known to contain carcinogenic C-14 illudane-type sesquiterpenoids (e.g. ptaquiloside, 1), the rhizome and the aerial part as well as the young fronds of P. cretica are used in Chinese traditional medicine as antipyretic, antidote, and to treat burn (Gan, 1958; Jiang, 1977). For safety uses, investigation of the presence and distribution of the cytotoxic compounds in Pteris species is always necessary before uses in traditional medicines, since C14and C15-illudane-type sesquiterpenoids are the chemical markers of Pteridaceae. Plant material used in the present study was collected in May 2007 in Hiroshima City, Japan. A voucher specimen (07-PC-0513) has been deposited in the Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, Japan.