Abstract
The plant Cucurbita faetidissima H.B.K. called "calabacella loca" or buffalo gourd is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico region of North America. Native Americans have eaten the fruit of this plant for ten thousand years, and have used the roots as a source for fish poison and as soap due to its saponin content. The roots are also rich in starch (Bemis et al., 1978; Bergsteinson and Moiler, 1934; Martinez, 1959). The alcoholic extract of the roots exhibits oxytocic activity and spasmolytic effect on isolated rat and mouse intestine (Ferguson et al., 1955). Very recently, cucurbitacins B and E with their glucosides cucurbitacin D and isocucurbitacin B and a tetraglycoside of echinocystic acid (3,16~-dihydroxy-olean-12-ene-17/3-carboxylic acid) called faetidissimoside were identified as constituents of root extracts by HPLC and spectral methods (Dubois et al., 1988). In the present work, we note the presence of echinocystic acid in root extracts of this plant and present spectral data on this compound and its diacetate derivative (3,16/3-diacetoxy-olean-12ene-17/3-carboxylic acid) which was identified by X-ray crystallography.
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