The Geography of Phytochemical Races

4.2 Across the Indian Ocean (Primarily) 183
Fig. 4.6 Map of East Africa
and islands in the western
Indian Ocean. Abbreviations:
Ken. = Kenya,
Mad = Madagascar, Maur. =
Mauritius, Moz. =
Mozambique, Tanz. = Tanzania,
Zan. = Zanzibar
respectively). See Fig. 4.5 for structures. An examination of collections from other
mainland and island populations would be of interest.
4.2.2 Restionaceae
According to Dahlgren et al. (1985), in their treatment of the Monocotyledonae,
Restionaceae consist of 40 genera with about 400 species distributed in southwestern
Australia, southern Africa, New Zealand, New Guinea, southeastern China, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Chile (one species). Two centers of diversity exist, one in
southwestern Australia and one in the Cape Province of South Africa, where, as
Mabberley (1997, p. 610) pointed out, there are 10 endemic genera with about 180
species. In early taxonomic treatments, three genera were considered to be represented
in Australia and South Africa, namely, Hypolaena, Leptocarpus, and Restio
(see, e.g., Pillans, 1950). This idea was challenged on the grounds of extensive
anatomical studies that showed that these genera were, in all probability, unnatural
(polyphyletic) groups (Cutler, 1969, 1972).
An early study of fl avonoids in Hypolaena fastigiata had shown the presence of novel
and potentially useful compounds, including the newly reported 8-hydroxyluteolin
[316] (see Fig. 4.7 for structures 316–320), which took its name, hypolaetin, from
the source genus (Harborne and Clifford, 1969). A more recent survey of the family