In a finding seen by many as an overturn from conventional wisdom, a plant has been found to produce progesterone, the female sex hormone.

This discovery was reported in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication.

From News-Medical.Net:

“The significance of the unequivocal identification of progesterone cannot be overstated,” the article by Guido F. Pauli and colleagues, states. “While the biological role of progesterone has been extensively studied in mammals, the reason for its presence in plants is less apparent.” They speculate that the hormone, like other steroid hormones, might be an ancient bioregulator that evolved billions of years ago, before the appearance of modern plants and animals. The new discovery may change scientific understanding of the evolution and function of progesterone in living things.

Scientists previously identified progesterone-like substances in plants and speculated that the hormone itself could exist in plants. But researchers had not found the actual hormone in plants until now. Pauli and colleagues used two powerful laboratory techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy, to detect progesterone in leaves of the Common Walnut, or English Walnut, tree. They also identified five new progesterone-related steroids in a plant belonging to the buttercup family.

Two powerful laboratory techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy were used by the researchers to detect progesterone in leaves of the Common Walnut, or English walnut, tree.

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