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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1993 Aug 15;90(16):7701–7705. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.16.7701

Relevance of chemistry to conservation of isolated populations: the case of volatile leaf components of Dicerandra mints.

K D McCormick 1, M A Deyrup 1, E S Menges 1, S R Wallace 1, J Meinwald 1, T Eisner 1
PMCID: PMC47210  PMID: 8356072

Abstract

Chemical analysis of the essential oils of four congeneric species of mint plant (Dicerandra spp.) endemic to Florida revealed a pattern of chemical similarity and dissimilarity that would not have been predicted on morphological or geographic criteria. Dicerandra christmanii differs fundamentally from its congeners in that it produces fewer compounds and lacks the acyclic components. Yet D. christmanii is more closely similar to Dicerandra frutescens than to other Dicerandra species in morphological characters and geographic range. We conclude that the potential chemical value of a species should not be prejudged on the basis of nonchemical characters and that designation of surplus plant populations by conservationists should be resisted unless such populations have also been chemically studied.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Coley P. D., Bryant J. P., Chapin F. S., 3rd Resource availability and plant antiherbivore defense. Science. 1985 Nov 22;230(4728):895–899. doi: 10.1126/science.230.4728.895. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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