Comparison of Chromatographic Spot Patterns of Some North American Isoetes Species

Abstract

Few comparative phytochemical studies have been done among the species of Isoetes. A comparison of the phenolic compounds in some species in the orders Isoetales, Lycopodiales, and Selaginellales (Vorin, 1972) showed only biflavones, whereas other members of the Isoetales and Lycopodiales had other types of flavones. Vorin (1972) also isolated the flavones apigenin and luteolin from European 1. delilei Rothm. and I. durieui Bory. Shortly thereafter, Vorin, Jay, and Hautville (1975) isolated the unique flavone, isoetin, in these same two species, and this clearly separated the quillworts from the lycopods chemically. In further work on four European species (I. durieui, I. delilei, I. lacustris L. and I. velata A. Braun), seven compounds were isolated: apigenin, luteolin, isoetin, selagin, chrysoeriol, tricin, and orientin (or isoorientin) (Vorin & Jay, 1978). Each species showed a specific grouping of these compounds. In other chemotaxonomic studies of Isoetes species from the southeastern United States, it was discovered that. very little taxonomic information could be gleaned from chromatographs (Matthews & Murdy, 1969, Boom, 1979). They considered that there was more variation between populations within a species than between species. The present phytochemical study was initiated to survey the patterns of the phenolic compounds as part of a larger taxonomic study of the genus Isoetes in northeastern North America (Kott, 1980). No attempt was made to isolate or identify the compounds.