BETAINES IN COASTAL PLANTS

Aerial parts of 63 flowering plant species distributed in 43 genera an d 22 families have been examined for the presence of betaines and tert iary sulphonium compounds. The plants tested were collected primarily either from salt marshes or close to the sea, but other species in eit her the same genus or family as plants collected from the coastal area were included in the study. Betaines were isolated from all but six o f the species collected, but tertiary sulphonium compounds were not de tected in any. High concentrations of betaines were found in all speci es of Chenopodiaceae examined as well as in 12 other species in other families, most notably Sesuvium portulacastrum (Aizoaceae), Avicennia marina (Verbenaceae) and Spatrina x townsendii (Gramineae). Most of th e species tested contained betaines in low concentrations (0.0009-0.10 % dry weight). The qualitative distribution of betaines within differe nt species of any one genus was consistently the same. (C) 1998 Elseiv er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.