Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis

Maia, Artur Campos Dália, Lima, Carla Teixeira de, Navarro, Daniela Maria do Amaral Ferraz, Chartier, Marion, Giulietti, Ana Maria & Machado, Isabel Cristina, 2014, The floral scents of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae), the New World night-blooming water lilies, and their relation with putative pollinators, Phytochemistry 103, pp. 67-75 : 68-71

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.phytochem.2014.04.007

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10561429

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03BA87CE-FFBB-101C-FCA9-F6287FDDF836

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis
status

 

2.1. Floral scent composition of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis

The six species and two subspecies of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis investigated are all native to Brazil and three of them are known to be associated with pollinator cyclocephaline scarabs ( Fig. 1 View Fig ; Table 1 View Table 1 ).

To the human nose, flowers of the seven investigated taxa of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis were remarkably fragrant during the consecutive evenings of the pistillate ($) and staminate (#) phases of anthesis. While the flowers of N. rudgeana and N. gardneriana emitted a pungent, fermented fruity odor with solvent-like reminiscents, the scents of the remaining species all bore a strong, uncharacteristic solvent-like odor ( Table 1 View Table 1 ).

The chemical analysis showed that the seven studied taxa emitted floral volatiles in different quantities and compositions. A total of 22 compounds were identified in the analyzed samples, ranging in molecular weight from 102 [methyl butanoate] (1) to 192 [benzyl 2-methylbutanoate] (2) ( Fig. 2 View Fig ; Table 2 View Table 2 ). The identified volatile compounds belong to three of the seven compound classes proposed by Knudsen et al. (2006): aliphatics (9), C5-branched chain compounds (5) and aromatics (8).

The number of compounds per species ranged from only two in N. lingulata , N. amazonum and N. tenerinervia , to 12 in N. lasiophylla ( Table 2 View Table 2 ). Dominant compounds reaching an overall relative percentage content of at least 10% in the analyzed scent samples were methyl hexanoate (3) in N. rudgeana (36.3–77.8% $; 81.0–97.7% #) and N. gardneriana (21.9% $); methyl 2-methylbutanoate (4) in N. lasiophylla (0.8–12.5% $; 0.4–18.0% #) and N. gardneriana (74.0% $); (methoxymethyl)benzene (5) in N. rudgeana (20.2–61.7% $; 1.2–15.7% #), N. lasiophylla (81.6–95.1% $; 75.1–97.2% #) and N. lingulata (99.8% $; 99.8–99.9% #); and anisole (6) in N. tenerinervia (98.9% $), N. amazonum subsp. amazonum (99.7–100.0% $; 89.0– 100.0% #) and N. amazonum subsp. pedersenii (99.9% $; 99.9% #) ( Figs. 2 View Fig and 3 View Fig ; Table 2 View Table 2 ).

No marked differences in floral scent composition between pistillate and staminate phases of anthesis could be evidenced, with the sole exception of the analyzed samples of N. rudgeana ($, n = 4; #, n = 2), in which the emission of (methoxymethyl)benzene (5) was dramatically reduced during the staminate phase ( Fig. 3 View Fig ; Table 2 View Table 2 ).

The rates of floral scent emission differed between species (PERMANOVA: df = 6, F = 46.709, R 2 = 0.9, P = 0.031) and phases of anthesis (PERMANOVA: df = 1, F = 5.043, R 2 = 0.016, P = 0.031). The interaction between these two factors had no significant effect (PERMANOVA: df = 4, F = 1.477, R 2 = 0.019, P = 0.262), meaning that variations of scent between the pistillate and the staminate phases showed the same pattern for each species: floral scent discharge was higher at the pistillate phase (865 ± 194 µg h – 1, n = 16) than at the staminate phase (392 ± 97 µg h – 1, n = 16).

Among the different species from subg. Hydrocallis , only N. amazonum subsp. amazonum (144 ± 29 µg h – 1, n = 11), N. lasiophylla (436 ± 54 µg h – 1, n = 6), and N. rudgeana (1654 ± 138 µg h – 1, n = 8) exhibited significantly different rates of floral scent emission. N. lingulata (497 ± 99 µg h – 1, n = 3) and N. amazonum subsp. pedersenii (389 ± 56 µg h – 1, n = 2) did not show any significant difference in floral scent emission rates when compared to any of the other sampled species, and only a single sample of N. tenerinervia (121 µg h – 1) and N. gardneriana (275 µg h – 1) each were analyzed.

Table 2 Chemical composition (amounts of each compound) of the floral scent of seven species of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae). Floral scent samples were obtained by perceivable odor emission in the course of the pistillate (day 1; $) and staminate (day 2; #) phases of anthesis.

Species list RI N. rudge   N. lasio   N. lingu   N. amaz   N. peder   N. gard N. tener
    $ (n = 6) # (n = 2) $ (n = 2) # (n = 4) $ (n = 1) # (n = 2) $ (n = 4) # (n = 7) $ (n = 1) # (n = 1) # (n = 1) # (n = 1)
Total number of compounds   8 7 8 11 2 2 1 3 3 2 11 3
Total amount of scent per flower (µg h – 1)   1368–2123 973–1554 328–651 270–475 651 313–528 56–330 43–278 445 333 275 121
Aliphatics
Esters
Methyl butanoate <800 0.53
Butyl acetate 815 0.04 0.05
Methyl hexanoate 928 36.28–77.78 81.03–97.69 0–0.05 a 0–0.42b 0–1.96b 21.94
Methyl pentanoate 824 0.02
(Z)-methyl hex-3-enoate 933 0.05
(E)-methyl hex-3-enoate 937 tr
(E)-methyl hex-2-enoate 966 0.03–0.47 0.10–0.20 0.03
Methyl heptanoate 1026 0.01–0.08 0.03–0.08 0.02
Methyl octanoate 1126 0.03–0.25 0.11–0.21
C5-branched chain compounds
Esters
Methyl 2-methylbutanoate <800 0.83–12.54 0.36–17.96 74.02
Ethyl 2-methylbutanoate 849 0–0.21a
Methyl 2-hydroxy-2-methylbutanoate 849 0–0.04b
Methyl tiglate 865 0.28
Methyl 3-hydroxy-2-methylpropanoate 893 0–0.02 a 0–0.07b
Aromatics
Alcohols                          
Benzyl alcohol 1033 0–0.02 c 0.09–0.88 0–0.87b 0.22 0.09–0.25
2-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol 1244 0–0.16d 0.05–0.18 0–2.72b
Aldehyde                          
Benzaldehyde 959 0–0.10b
Esters                          
Methyl benzoate 1095 0–0.04 a 0–0.05b
Benzyl 2-methylbutanoate 1388 0–0.01 a
Ethers
Anisole 917 2.31–4.88 2.15–6.89 99.66–100.00 88.98–100.00 99.91 99.94   98.94
(methoxymethyl)benzene 988 20.20–61.66 1.16–15.69 81.57–95.12 75.10–97.24 99.78 99.75–99.91 0–9.06b 0.01 0.02 3.10 1.00
1.4-dimethoxybenzene 1164 1.23–3.65 0.61–2.85 0–0.01 a                  
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