Abstract
Abstract Triterpene methyl ethers were isolated from the epicuticular wax of 12 species of Chionochloa and were absent from 8 species. These triterpenoids are only rarely species specific, but at the infraspecific level in some wide ranging species these are discrete biochemical races with circumscribed geographic distributions. Arundoin and miliacin, known to the common in the Gramineae, are the most frequent triterpene methyl ethers in this genus, arundoin occurring in nine species, and miliacin in six. Methyl ethers of lupeol, parkeol, cydoartenol, and β-amyrin occur in fewer species. Species such as C. pallens, C. crassiuscula, C. acicularis, and C. cheesemanii invariably synthesise triterpene methyl ethers, but in C. rigida, C. flavescens, and C. rubra there are many populations where the compounds are not produced. Spontaneous multiple origins of dominant genes that control the methylation of 3 β-hydroxytriterpenes are proposed.
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