Table 1

Particularly high melatonin levels reported for several edible and medicinal plants (selected examples).

Species

Tissue

Melatonin [ng/g]

References

(A) Edible plants

Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato)

fruit

0.5

[18]

Raphanus sativus (red radish)

root tuber

0.6

[19]

Brassica campestris (Japanese radish)

stem, leaves

0.6

[19]

Brassica nigra (black mustard)

seed

129

[24,28]

Brassica hirta (white mustard)

seed

189

[24,28]

Prunus cerasus (tart cherry, Montmorency)

fruit

15–18

[23,24]

Prunus amygdalus (almond)

seed

39

[28]

Pimpinella anisum (anise)

seed

7

[24,28]

Foeniculum vulgare (fennel)

seed

28

[24,28]

Helianthus annuus (sunflower)

seed

29

[24,28]

Oryza sativa (rice)

seed

1

[19]

Zea mays (Indian corn)

seed

1.3

[19]

Avena sativa (oat)

seed

1.8

[19]

Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue)

seed

5

[19]

Elettaria cardamomum (green cardamom)

seed

15

[24,28]

Zingiber officinale (ginger)

tuber

0.5

[19]

Musa paradisiaca (banana)

fruit

0.5

[18]

(B) Officinal plants

Melissa officinalis (balm mint)

young plant

16

[25]

Scutellaria baicalensis (huang-qin)

plant

> 2,000 – > 7,000

[24,25,27]

Pimpinella peregrina (-)

dried root

38

[25]

Hypericum perforatum (St. Johns wort)

leaf

1,750

[27]

Hypericum perforatum (St. Johns wort)

flower

> 2,400 – > 4,000

[25,27]

Lippia citriodora (lemon verbena)

young plant

22

[25]

Tanacetum parthenium (feverfew)

leaf (fresh/dried)

> 1,300/> 7,000

[24,25,27]

Hardeland and Pandi-Perumal Nutrition & Metabolism 2005 2:22   doi:10.1186/1743-7075-2-22