Purple-red Pigment Formed in Callus of Onosma paniculatum Bur.et French

The callus of Onosma paniculatum produced by young roots and stems with 2-staged culture method contains slightly higher contents of the purple-red pigment than the original plant. This pigment is a naphthoquinone compound consisting of six shikonin derivatives, whose Rf values are very close to those of shikonin derivatives in the intact root and stem. Four monomers of shikonin have been obtained with the columned chromatography of silica gel H from the callus. The Structure analysis shows that the shikonin derivatives are deoxyshikonin, β, β-dimethy- lacrylalkannin, acetylalkannin and β-acetoxyisovalerylalkannin.