Differences in the floral anthocyanin content of red petunias and Petunia exserta

In order to resolve a conflict between previous papers regarding the floral anthocyanins of red flowers of Petunia exserta, a naturally occurring spec ies, the HPLC profile of this species was compared with that of commercial red garden petunias. Both HPLC profiles extremely superficially resemble ea ch other in terms of relative amounts and retention times of the major anth ocyanins. However, co-elution on HPLC of the mixed sample resulted in clear separation of the components. Three major anthocyanins in red petunias wer e determined to be cyanidin 3-sophoroside, cyanidin 3-glucoside and peonidi n 3-glucoside, which exhibited similar behaviors on HPLC to delphinidin 3-g lucoside, delphinidin-3-rutinoside and petunidin 3-rutinoside, respectively , the major floral anthocyanins of P. exserta. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.