Abstract
Determination of vitamin C was carried out with such stalk vegetables as brackens and bamboo shoots in an attempt to clarify the distribution of the ascorbic acid in tissues of these vegetables. The results obtained are summarized as follows:
1) The rapidly growing uppermost portion of bracken stalks had the highest vitamin C content; the vitamin C content diminished gradually with the decreasing distance from the base of each segment. Such was also the case with the dehydroascorbic acid.
2) A bamboo shoot grows normally with the extension of the growth zone at the base of each segment between joints as well as that of the apical portion. Distribution of vitamin C in bamboo tissue was found virtually proportionate to it; the vitamin C content was prominent in the apical portion of a whole plant, while the base of each segment was richest in vitamin C content between joints. Dehydroascorbic acid showed a similar tendency. Transverse septa, in contrast, which lack eminent physiologial significance were found to be fairly low both in vitamin C content and in dehydroascorbic acid content.
Assays for vitamin C, in mg per unit weight of dry solid sample, revealed the same tendencies of ascorbic acid distribution as in the cases of raw brackens and bamboo shoots.
