Four diploid and seven allopolyploid bearded Iris were surveyed for their leaf flavonoid, isoflavonoid and xanthone constituents in order to investigate their phylogeny. Eighteen flavone Cglycosides and eight C-glucoxanthones were identified and proved to be useful evolutionary markers. The phenolic data showed that Iris pseudopumila was a strong candidate as a diploid parent of some allopolyploid taxa e.g. I. marsica and I. lutescens but rules out the participation of I. pallida. Amongst the 2n = 44 allopolyploids the results suggested that I. germanica and I. albicans are very closely related and that they have evolved from the 2n = 40 taxa e.g. I. bicapitata.
flavonoid, xanthone, bearded irises, chemical evolution
Publication DOI: 10.4462/annbotrm-9062Publisher: Italy: Department of Environmental Biology, University La Sapienza of Rome
Correspondence: christine.williams@reading.ac.uk
Institutions: Department of Botany, The University of Reading, Reading, UK, Department of Plant Biology, University ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy
Methods: TLC, HPLC, UV, extraction, 2D paper chromatography