Chemical bioactive profile of mountain celery as affected by vegetative stages

Mountain celery (MC) is an endemic plant native to Iran. The plant possesses several nutritional and industrial applications bestowed by a wide range of bioactive compounds. The present study investigated some changes in the chemical composition of fresh arial parts of MC at different vegetative stages. The headspace (HS) technique in tandem with GC-MS analysis were implemented to identify bioactive compounds. Results indicated that phthalides, sesquiterpenes, and monoterpenes were the main constituents in MC. It was found that MC had higher concentration and more diverse composition of phthalides at younger age. It seems MC farming has the potential to be commercialized with a decent revenue.