umbelliferone

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A colorless compound, , of resins from umbelliferous plants, particularly of asafetida resin, and also by the action of sulphuric acid on a mixture of resorcinol and malic acid. It crystallizes in slender needles and melts at 223–224° C.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Chem.) A tasteless white crystalline substance, C9H6O3, found in the bark of a certain plant (Daphne Mezereum), and also obtained by the distillation of certain gums from the Umbelliferæ, as galbanum, asafetida, etc. It is analogous to coumarin. Called also hydroxy-coumarin. Its strong fluorescence under ultraviolet light makes it useful in analytical biochemistry, as, for exmple, to detect phosphatase activity by hydrolysis of umbelliferyl phosphate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun chemistry A yellowish-white natural product of the coumarin family, occurring in such plants as carrot and coriander.