Abstract
The present study was carried out on the chemotaxonomy and palynology of nine Acacia species occurring in Sudan. It included a preliminary phytochemical screening of the flowers extracts using thin layer chromatography (TLC) followed by isolation of the major compounds from A. nilotica flowers. Palynological results showed that the studied species, except for A. laeta, can be divided into two types; Type 1 pollen characterized by spinescent stipules and Type 2 pollen typified by non-spinescent stipules. A. laeta, in addition to all characters of Type 2 pollen, has polyads with 18-20 monads, a fact supporting its hybrid origin. TLC of extracts revealed the presence of phenolic substances with selective reactivity towards phenolic detecting- reagents. TLC comparison of the isolated compounds with extracts from studied species revealed that gallic acid and its methyl ester were only persistent in Acacia species exhibiting spinescent stipules. Thus, suggesting their use as good chemotaxonomic markers.
Highlights
The genus Acacia Miller currently includes about 1300 species and form the second-most species-rich genus in the family Leguminosae (Mabberley, 1997; Maslin, 2001)
thin layer chromatography (TLC) comparison of the isolated compounds with extracts from studied species revealed that gallic acid and its methyl ester were only persistent in Acacia species exhibiting spinescent stipules
Phytochemical screening of the EtOAc extracts of all studied Acacia species on TLC showed that A. ehrenbergiana, A. nilotica, A. seyal, A. sieberana and A. tortilis reacted positively to FeCl3 reagent
Summary
The genus Acacia Miller currently includes about 1300 species and form the second-most species-rich genus in the family Leguminosae (Mabberley, 1997; Maslin, 2001). Acacia species (31 species) predominate in Sudan and are of high importance because of the gum produced by some of them and for their medicinal and economical importance They represent about one third of the African species (Elamin, 1972). Elamin (1972) provided the latest and more comprehensive taxonomical account on Sudan Acacia He rejected the traditional classification which was based on inflorescence type and instead, he used palynology and anatomy in relation to vegetative characters, especially those derived from stipules. He proposed the division of Sudan Acacia into four subgeneric groups: Group I: Stipules spinescent.
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