This paper describes analysis of free and total (also liberated by hydrolysis) ellagic acid (EA) content in in vitro cultured Rubus chamaemorus and in leaves of intact plants as a control. The content of EA was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The analysis revealed that the content of free EA in the shoot cultures was only 2.6 X less than in intact leaves and that callus tissue is also able to synthetize small amounts of EA.
In the territory of Poland, Rubus chamaemorus is a rare glacial relict. Its localities known to date were in the northern part of the country and in the Sudeten Mountains. In 2002, a new locality of this species was discovered in the Orawa-Nowy Targ basin in the Carpathians. It is the southernmost locality in the European distribution area of this species. Rubus chamaemorus grows there on a raised bog in communities of the Oxycocco-Sphagnetea class. The spatial structure of the population depends on microhabitats reflecting the hummock-hollow structure of the peatbog.