Alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides of Malesian plants as taxonomic markers

Abstract

Buitenzorg (now Bogor) was one of the first centres of intensive phytochemical investigations of tropical plants, and Flora Malesiana is the first flora project of global importance which began in 1960 to incorporate phytochemical paragraphs in its family monographs. Starting with the phytochemical investigations performed by M. Greshoff in the years 1888–1892 in Java an attempt is made to demonstrate the importance of some aspects of secondary metabolism for modem plant taxonomy. A short discussion of secondary metabolism is given, and two classes of secondary metabolites or natural products, alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides, are defined. To illustrate the taxonomic meaning of chemical characters the following taxa were chosen: Alkaloids: Alangiaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Apocynaceae, Lauraceae, Rubiaceae, and Ancistrocladus and Daphniphyllum. Cyanogenic glycosides: Araceae and Flacourtiaceae.