CHEMOTAXONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF SURFACE WAX N-ALKANES IN THE CACTACEAE

Surface wax alkanes were determined in several species of Cactaceae an d used as chemotaxonomic characters. Extraction of alkanes was perform ed with hexane and determination was carried out by GC MS on a data se t including 105 species belonging to two subfamilies: Opuntioideae and Cactoideae. The Cactoideae examined were subdivided into seven tribes : Cacteae, Cereeae, Echinocereeae, Notocacteae. Pachycereeae, Rhipsali deae and Trichocereeae. The data obtained were statistically processed using multivariate methods including cluster analysis and discriminan t analysis. The results obtained revealed a clear partition among spec ies at both the subfamilial and tribal level, confirming the usefulnes s of wax alkanes as chemotaxonomic markers in the Cactaceae. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.