Altitudinal variation of secondary metabolite profiles in flowering heads of Arnica montana cv. ARBO

The altitudinal variation on the contents of secondary metabolites in flowering heads of Arnica montana was assessed. Plants of A. montana cultivar ARBO were grown in nine experimental plots at altitudes between 590 and 2230 m at Mount Patscherkofel near Innsbruck/Austria. The proportion of flavonoids with vicinal free hydroxy groups in ring B to flavonoids lacking this feature significantly increased with elevation. Additionally, the level of phenolic acids, in particular the level of 1-methoxyoxaloyl-3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, also positively correlated with the altitude of the growing site.