Adil GÜNER, Vehbi ESER - optima

Oral Lectures
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FIELD AND LABORATORY-BASED APPROCHES TO A REVISION OF
ADENOCARPUS
Rafaa Shkwa ESSOKNE 1 , Stephen L. JURY 2
1 Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics, The Harborne Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading,
RG6 6AS, UK r.shkwa@reading.ac.uk
2 Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics, The Harborne Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading,
RG6 6AS, UK s.l.jury@reading.ac.uk
The genus Adenocarpus contains approximately 23 species and is centered in the western
Mediterranean with a few outlying species in tropical Africa and south-central SE Europe. Many
different treatments have been published since the last complete revision over 40 years ago by
Gibbs (1967). The most radical new treatment was for Flora iberica (Castroviejo, 1999), where
new species are described and subspecies raised in rank. Although rich in Adenocarpus taxa,
Ouyahya’s account in Flora Pratique du Maroc has followed that of Med Checklist. In order to
produce a comprehensive modern revision, we have undertaken morphological and
phytochemical studies together with a molecular investigation to create a phylogeny using the
independent data sets from: morphology, phytochemistry and the nucleotide sequences of noncoding
DNA (ITS) and the chloroplast (trnL-F). The basic variation in the genus has been
examined, and the distribution of the variants noted. This work was supported by fieldwork in
both Morocco and Spain. A phytochemical analysis of the leaf flavonoids of the genus was
carried out using two-dimensional paper chromatography and high-performance liquid
chromatography. The Flavone mono-C-glycosides appear to be the most common flavone
glycoside class but restricted to the Moroccan endemic species. In contrast, flavonol Oglycosides
and 5-Hydroxy-isoflavone O-glycosides exist only in the endemic species of tropical
Africa and south-central SE Europe. The taxonomic and evolutionary implications of the flavone
C-glycosides, and the phenolic compounds data are discussed in relation to the results from the
molecular studies.
Keywords: Leguminosae; Adenocarpus; Morphology; Phytochemistry; Phylogeny; taxonomy.
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