CHEMICALS IN AROIDS - A SURVEY, INCLUDING NEW RESULTS FOR POLYHYDROXYALKALOIDS AND ALKYLRESORCINOLS

The Araceae is a large, mainly tropical family, many members of which contain bioactive substances which are often either toxic or irritatin g. Inflorescences frequently emit strong fragrances. The active compou nds have not been adequately determined nor is the chemotaxonomy of th e family very well known, except for one major study of flavonoids. Tw o groups of compounds of known bioactivity-alkylresorcinols and nitrog enous sugar analogues-have been sought in representative species from most of the genera in the family. Although percentage sampling was nec essarily small, a few examples of species containing these substances were found and some taxonomic suggestions are made and compared with r esults in the literature. This survey is a basis for further work on t he family.