Abstract
An analysis of 60 populations of Oenothera sects. Gauropsis, Hartmannia, Kneiffia, Paradoxus, and Xylopleurum showed that 29 flavonols and 4 glycoflavones were present among 19 of the 20 species studied in these five sections. The four glycoflavones, representing the first report for this class of compounds for Oenothera, were present only in O. canescens, a highly specialized and isolated species within the genus. The most closely related species, O. dissecta, had a flavonoid profile more similar to species of sect. Hartmannia and sect. Kneiffia. The most striking feature of the analysis is that roughly 70% of the known flavonoids in the family were found in the group of sections studied. The large number of compounds in this one lineage of Oenothera contrasts sharply to the relatively low numbers found in most other genera of the family. Further, the occurrence of glucuronides and sulfates within Oenothera is restricted to these sections. Each species examined had a unique flavonoid profile, except O. deserticola and O. multicaulis (both sect. Hartmannia) which had identical profiles. This finding contrasts sharply with the uniform profiles of other sections of Oenothera and other genera in Onagraceae, such as Epilobium and Ludwigia. By contrast, O. havardii, a phyletically isolated species of the monotypic sect. Paradoxus, had only five flavonol glycosides, compared with 11–19 compounds in the other species. Based on morphological and seed anatomical data, O. havardii is only distantly related to sects. Gauropsis, Hartmannia, Kneiffia, and Xylopleurum, although along with sect. Lavauxia, it appears to represent the sister group to them. Overall, with the exception of O. havardii and O. canescens, the flavonoid profiles support the hypothesis recently suggested by seed anatomy that these four sections are more closely related to each other than any one of them is to another section of the genus.
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