Chemotaxonomic significance of fatty acids and tocopherols in Boraginaceae

A collection of 45 accessions (36 species, 20 genera) of the family Boragin aceae was evaluated for oil content, fatty acid composition, tocopherol con tent and composition. All the accessions contained gamma-linolenic acid, th e lowest content (0.7%) being found in Cerinthe major L. and the highest (2 4.4%) in Borago officinalis L. Three tocopherol profiles were characterized by the extremes of more than 90% of alpha-, delta- and gamma-tocopherol, r espectively. Fatty acids and tocopherols were suggested to have potential c hemotaxonomic value in this family. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.