Discrimination and identification of coastal Douglas-fir clones using needle flavonoid fingerprints

This paper describes a method for discriminating and identifying 10 success ful Douglas-fir(Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) clones using foliar f lavonoids. All the 101 individuals analyzed by high performance liquid chro matography contained two proanthocyanidins: prodelphinidin and procyanidin and six flavonols: myricetin quercetin, larycitrin, kaempferol, isorhamneti n and syringetin, but in different proportions. The experimental protocol u sed was very reproducible since the variation coefficients for each flavono id did not exceed 9%. Submission of the flavonoid data to multivariate disc riminant analysis allowed excellent discrimination of the: 10 clones with 8 9% of the individuals being well-grouped. Then a clonal bank was establishe d in which the fingerprint of each clone is defined by its position in the multidimensional space of the discriminant analysis. The clonal identity of several unknown individuals was determined with success by projecting thei r flavonoid data in a subsequent discriminant analysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.