Diversification of exudate flavonoid profiles in further Primula spp.

In continuation of previous work, exudate flavonoid profiles of 22 new accessions of the genus Primula L. aligned to different subgenera were studied for the first time. Profiling was done by comparative TLC and UV-HPLC against authentic marker compounds. Most of the studied species accumulated the typical Primula flavonoids, comprising derivatives of unsubstituted flavone, of 5,8- or 5,6-hydroxyflavones including partly highly oxygenated flavones, together with 2,2'-diOH-chalcone in their exudate. The profile of P. edelbergii belonging to subgen. Sphondylia differed largely from the majority of Primula species studied so far, showing accumulation tendencies similar to those observed earlier for the closely related genus Dionysia. The phylogenetic significance of this diversification is shortly addressed.