Abstract
Ergoline (i.e. ergot) alkaloids are a group of physiologically active natural products occurring in taxonomically unrelated fungal and plant taxa, Clavicipitaceae and Convolvulaceae. The disjointed occurrence of ergoline alkaloids seems to contradict the paradigm of chemotaxonomy that identical or at least structurally related natural products occur in taxonomically related organisms. This question has now been solved by the observation that some dicotyledonous plants belonging to the family Convolvulaceae (e.g. Ipomoea asarifolia, I. violacea and Turbina corymbosa carry epibiotic fungi. The fungi present on different plant species are not identical albeit taxonomically closely related clavicipitaceous fungi. Thus, the presence of ergoline alkaloids in dicotyledonous plants is not based on their capacity to synthesize ergoline alkaloids but rather on the ability to live in a symbiotic association with ergoline alkaloid producing fungi.
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