Abstract
Leaf proteins of the 10 herbaceous species of the genus Datura were separated by electrophoresis in starch gels and stained to reveal peroxidases. A. total of 19 different sites of peroxidase bands was observed for the species as a whole. Developmental studies showed that the number of bands increased with age of the leaf during seedling growth as well as in more mature plants. Among species the number of band sites for one particular leaf (AL‐4) varied from 4 to 9. Each species pattern was unique, and no single peroxidase band was common to all the species. Based on considerations of interspecific cross compatibility and chromosomal rearrangements the c assical taxonomic division of the genus into three sections was further subdivided to give five groups. The degree of phylogenetic relationship for species within vs. between these groups was assessed for the peroxidase patterns by use of statistical methods based on a hypergeometric distribution model. The probability that the observed degree of band matching was due to chance was less among species within a group than between groups, thus indicating a closer genetic association which is in agreement with the relationships arrived at by more conventional methods.
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