The tax
on
omy
of alpine
Primula species has l
ong been in dispute because
of high m
orph
ol
ogic variability and several hybridisati
ons. In
Primula species, the trich
ome height and the c
ol
our
of hair-tips are usually indicated as diacritic characters, but in
our experience this is n
ot adequate. The present study, f
ocused
on
Primula auricula,
Primula daonensis and
Primula hirsuta, theref
ore pr
op
oses the use
of
other m
orph
ol
ogic trich
ome parameters (size and dimensi
onal rati
o of stalk, neck and gland head). Phyt
ochemical investigati
ons ab
out the flav
on
oid c
omp
ositi
on (epicuticular and vacu
olar)
of leaves, as tax
on
omic markers, have als
o been perf
ormed. We rep
ort the is
olati
on and identificati
on
of tw
o new flav
on
ol glyc
osides, is
orhamnetin 3-
O-(2,6-di-
O-β-d-gluc
opyran
osyl-β-d-gluc
opyran
oside) (
ong>1ong>) and kaempfer
ol 3-
O-(2-
O-α-l-rhamn
opyran
osyl-6-
O-β-d-xyl
opyran
osyl-β-d-gluc
opyran
oside) (
ong>2ong>) and
of eight kn
own flav
on
oids. Size and dimensi
onal rati
o of the three trich
ome elements (stalk, neck and glandular head) are typical f
or each species analysed. The flav
on
oid pr
ofile well characterise the entities under study. Three different pr
ofiles have been
obtained with b
oth vacu
olar and epicuticular flav
on
oids.
The morphologic and phytochemical markers proposed in this work seem to be parameters which significatively discriminate the species under study.