No abstract

This paper describes our study of the flavonoid chemistry of the Menyanthaceae, which included Menyanthes, Fauria (= Nephrophyllidium), Liparophyllum (all monotypic), nine species of Nymphoides, and 11 species of Villarsia. The flavonoid profiles are based upon kaempferol, 7‐O‐methylkaempferol, quercetin, 7‐O‐methylquercetin, isorhamnetin, 3,7‐di‐O‐methylquercetin, and 7,3′‐di‐O‐methylquercetin, although not all taxa exhibit all of these aglycones. These compounds occur as a complex mixture of 3‐O‐mono‐ and 3‐O‐diglycosides; 4′‐O‐glucosides were restricted to four species of Nymphoides. Some acylated glycosides were also observed. The presence of flavonols and absence of both C‐glycosylflavones and xanthones set the Menyanthaceae apart from the Gentianaceae, the family with which it is most often allied. Flavonoid data do not allow assignment of the Menyanthaceae with surety to either the Gentianales or Solanales. The flavonoid profiles of Liparophyllum and Fauria are unique within the family and do not support a close affinity of the latter genus to Menyanthes. A close relationship between Nymphoides and Villarsia, suggested on morphological grounds, is supported by the flavonoid data. Flavonoids support the view, based upon morphology, that the South African Villarsia capensis is more closely related to eastern Australian Villarsia species than to Western Australian ones that are geographically closer. Segregation of Nymphoides fallax from other Meso‐American and Caribbean taxa is supported by the flavonoid data. Flavonoid data also support the view that N. indica is a circumtropical taxon not deserving separate species status in the New World.

No abstract

This paper describes our study of the flavonoid chemistry of the Menyanthaceae, which included Menyanthes, Fauria (= Nephrophyllidium), Liparophyllum (all monotypic), nine species of Nymphoides, and 11 species of Villarsia. The flavonoid profiles are based upon kaempferol, 7‐O‐methylkaempferol, quercetin, 7‐O‐methylquercetin, isorhamnetin, 3,7‐di‐O‐methylquercetin, and 7,3′‐di‐O‐methylquercetin, although not all taxa exhibit all of these aglycones. These compounds occur as a complex mixture of 3‐O‐mono‐ and 3‐O‐diglycosides; 4′‐O‐glucosides were restricted to four species of Nymphoides. Some acylated glycosides were also observed. The presence of flavonols and absence of both C‐glycosylflavones and xanthones set the Menyanthaceae apart from the Gentianaceae, the family with which it is most often allied. Flavonoid data do not allow assignment of the Menyanthaceae with surety to either the Gentianales or Solanales. The flavonoid profiles of Liparophyllum and Fauria are unique within the family and do not support a close affinity of the latter genus to Menyanthes. A close relationship between Nymphoides and Villarsia, suggested on morphological grounds, is supported by the flavonoid data. Flavonoids support the view, based upon morphology, that the South African Villarsia capensis is more closely related to eastern Australian Villarsia species than to Western Australian ones that are geographically closer. Segregation of Nymphoides fallax from other Meso‐American and Caribbean taxa is supported by the flavonoid data. Flavonoid data also support the view that N. indica is a circumtropical taxon not deserving separate species status in the New World.

A population of the annual Lasthenia californica in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (of Stanford University) showed three major flavonoid pigment types (A, B and C; a fourth was seen in very low frequencies). The three more common types exhibited a suite of aurone and chalcone glucosides and a set of highly polar flavonoid glucuronides. Type C consisted solely of the base array; type B added luteolin 7‐glucoside to the base array, while type A exhibited the base array plus eriodictyol 7‐glucoside and flavonol 3,7‐diglycoside bisulfates. The rare type D profile resembled type A except that the diglycosides were not sulfated. Collections were made along one of several fixed transects annually from 1982 to 1987. The main transect studied (Transect No. I) can be divided into two distinct parts on the basis of a changeover of flavonoid pattern from a mixture of types B and C at one end to exclusively (or very nearly) type A at the other. The frequencies of types B and C varied from year to year with type C predominating every year. The frequency of type A plants remained remarkably stable over the six‐year period. Collections along other transects showed a similar constancy of both frequencies of the flavonoid types and location of the types along the transects. Growth experiments in a greenhouse showed that seeds from type A parents harvested in the field produced only type A progeny, while type B and C plants gave only type B and C progeny with type C predominating (a single type A progeny plant was obtained from a type C parent). Flavonoid diversity in L. californica appears to be genetically controlled and is influenced significantly by the flavonoid chemistry of the seed parent.