The Geography of Phytochemical Races

184 4 Intercontinental Disjunctions
Fig. 4.7 Compounds 316–323, fl avonoids from some Restionaceae
involving a much broader sampling has been described (Harborne, 1979). Fourteen
Australasian species representing six genera and 33 species representing 10 African
genera were subjected to chromatographic separation, and identifi cation of their fl avonoid
glycosides. Flavonols identifi ed included quercetin, myricetin, the myricetin
methyl ethers larycitrin [317] and syringetin [318], gossypetin [319], and gossypetin
7-methyl ether [320]. Flavones identifi ed were apigenin, luteolin, chrysoeriol, and
hypolaetin. C-Glycosylfl avones and proanthocyanidins were identifi ed from several
species and anthocyanins from a few.
The distribution of these compounds proved to be of considerable taxonomic
value. The most interesting observation centered on the distribution of fl avonoids
in members of the three disjunct genera. The pigment profi les of Australasian and
African members of all three correlated with their geographic origins, and not with
other members of their respective genera. A solution to this problem was soon
to appear in the form of a total revision of the family (e.g., Briggs and Johnson,
1998a, b). As mentioned by Williams et al. (1998), of the 147 species examined, 57
are newly recognized, while 19 of 34 genera are new or involve resurrected names