Phytochemical reappraisal of taxonomic subdivisions of lycopodium (Pteridophyta-Lycopodiaceae) based on flavonoid glycoside distribution

Abstract

Flavonoid glycoside distribution data based primarily on material from New Zealand but also from France and Japan, support the division of the genus Lycopodium sensu lato into 3 groups. The most distinctive is that containing L. cernuum (type of the segregate genus Palhinhaea); it is characterised by the biosynthetic capability to produce flavonoid C-glycosides. The second contains L. scariosum, characterised by the biosynthetically unusual 5-O-glucosides of f1avones. The species aggregate which contains L. scariosum also includes L. jussiaei (type of the segregate genus Diphasium). The third group is an assemblage of species and is divisible into 2 subgroups on the basis of the presence or absence of 4′-O-glucosides. Phylloglossum drummondii also belongs to the Lycopodiaceae but is phytochemically distinct. © 1983 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.