Phytolacca americana, betacyanins

Schliemann, W. et al., Betacyanins from plants and cell cultures of Phytolacca americana. Phytochemistry, 42, 1039, 1996. 

Betalains have received much attention from the food industry as natural colour additives (Adams et at, 1976 Pourrat et at, 1983). The betacyanins from red beet are used for colouring ice cream, jam and fruit conserves. Earlier interest in betacyanins came from their use in colouring red wine, although this was prohibited by law in 1892 due to the use of the apparently harmful pokeberry Phytolacca americana, extract (Dreiding, 1961). 

Sakuta, M., Takagi, T., and Komamine, A. 1987. Growth related accumulation of betacyanin in suspension cultures of Phytolacca americana L. J. Plant Physiol. 125, 337-345. 

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