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SUMMARY
The toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) senecionine and integerrimine are minor compounds in the rhizomes of the medicinal plant Petasites hybridus. Plants used in phytopharmacy should be as low in PAs as possible. The present work investigates whether the PA content of the rhizomes can be lowered in the progenies obtained from selected plants through experimental crossings. Starting from plants differing in the PA content, two consecutive crossing generations (F1 and F2) were established. The PAs were recorded in the young runners of the rhizome. The results showed that various progenies differed clearly in their PA content and even within a progeny the PA content may vary considerably. Plants poor in alkaloids generally generate offspring lower in PA than parent plants with a high alkaloid level. However plants totally free of alkaloids could not be generated through the crossing experiments.