LEAF FLAVONOIDS AS CHEMOTAXONOMIC MARKERS FOR 2 ERYTHROXYLUM TAXA

Leaf extracts of Erythroxylum coca var. coca Lam. (E. c. var. coca) yi elded six O-conjugates of Eriodictyol flavonoids, while the equivalent extracts from Erythroxylum novogranatense var. novogranatense (Morris ) Hieron (E. rt. var. novogranatense) contained five flavonoids, two o f which were O-conjugates of Luteolin and three were O-conjugates of K aempferol. All six of E. c. var. coca methanolic extracted peaks (reso lved by HPLC) were found to have a 2, 3 single bond, which in E. n. va r. novogranatense is replaced by a 2-hydroxy allene. The other primary difference in the predominant flavonoids between these taxa is the ch emical composition of the sugar and/or acyl O-conjugation and site(s) al which this conjugation occurred. The results suggest that the most abundant O-conjugated flavonoids of E. c. var. coca and E. n. var. nov ogranatense may be used as chemotaxonomic markers for the two taxa. Th erefore, the O-conjugated peaks of Eriodictyol, are distinct chemotaxo nomic markers for E. c. var. coca and the O-conjugated peaks Luteolin and Kaempferol for E. n. var. novogranatense. These taxa are two of th e four cultivated Erythroxylum taxa that contain commercial quantities of the cocaine alkaloid in their leaves, this entity also sets apart the taxa from other members of Erythroxylum. We suggest that the bioch emistry of flavonoids of other Erythroxylum taxa may also be species s elective.