Botanical Sciences 97 (3): 398-412. 2019 Received: January 22, 2019, accepted: April 15, 2019 DOI: 10.17129/botsci.2191 On line first: 25/08/2019 Physiology/Fisiología Phytochemical variation among populations of Fouquieria splendens (Fouquieriaceae) Variación fitoquímica entre poblaciones de Fouquieria splendens (Fouquieriaceae) Hugo Manuel Monreal-García, Norma Almaraz-Abarca*, José Antonio Ávila-Reyes, Rene Torres-Ricario, M. Socorro González-Elizondo, Yolanda Herrera-Arrieta, and Marcela Verónica Gutiérrez-Velázquez Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Unidad Durango, Durango, México. *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract Background: Secondary metabolites are important chemomarkers. However, as a system to confront biotic and abiotic stress, chemical com- position can vary, improving the phenotypic plasticity of plants. We determined the potential of the foliar and floral phenolic composition, floral carotenoid contents to discriminate between two subspecies of Fouquieria splendens and assessed the effect of atypical environmental conditions on the chemical composition of a relict population of the subspecies splendens. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that chemical differences have arisen between the analyzed subspecies and in the relict population allowing the differentiation between them. Species studied: Fouquieria splendens subsp. splendens and Fouquieria splendens subsp. campanulata (Fouquieriaceae). Study site and years of study: Mezquital, Peñón Blanco, and San Juan del Río, Durango, México. March to August 2016. Methods: Foliar and floral extracts were analyzed by HPLC-DAD, UV-visible spectrophotometry, and FTIR-ATR. Multivariate analysis was used to assess the sample distinctiveness and to establish the relation between the chemical composition and environmental variables. Results: The chemical composition was highly conserved between the analyzed samples.