A SURVEY OF ALKALOIDS IN THE GENERA HARPALYCE AND BRONGNIARTIA (FABACEAE-BRONGNIARTIEAE)

The presence of alkaloids in six species of Brongniartia and three spe cies of Harpalyce is reported. This survey revealed remarkable qualita tive differences in the alkaloid profiles of these two genera. B. disc olor, B. lupinoides, B. sousae and B. intermedia showed a typical alph a-pyridone pattern, with cytisine, anagyrine and baptifoline as major alkaloids. In leaves of the first three species ormosanine-type alkalo ids occurred additionally. B. flava and B. vazquezii are devoid of alp ha-pyridones, but accumulate lupanine, hydroxylated lupanines and este r alkaloids. All three species of Harpalyce were similar in accumulati ng alpha-pyridones, but H. formosa differed from H. brasiliana and H. pringlei in the presence of epilupinine. In general the alkaloid profi les of Brongniartia and Harpalyce show similarities to those of the Au stralian genera Hovea, Lamprolobium, Plagiocarpus and Templetonia and support therefore the actual concept of the enlarged tribe Brongniarti eae. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd