Intraspecific Variation in the Epicuticular Wax Composition of Four Species of Chionochloa

Intraspecific variation in four New Zealand species of Chionochloa, C. flavescens, C. pallens, C. rigida; and C. rubra, was investigated by examining the major carbon chain lengths of fatty acids, alcohols, aldehydes, wax esters and alkanes of the epicuticular waxes. The major even-carbon chain lengths ranged generally from C₂₄ to C₃₂ in the acids, alcohols and aldehydes; C₂₉ to C₃₃ in the alkanes; and even-carbon chains between C₃₆ and C₅₂ in the wax esters. A computer program was used to calculate the degree of similarity between samples in terms of chain length distribution. In C. rigida eastern and western South Island localities were identified; in C. flavescens Canterbury and Nelson, western South Island and southern North Island regions were recognized; and C. pallens and C. rubra were divisible into four regions; Canterbury, Nelson, western South Island and southern North Island. The possible elongation-decarboxylation pathways and the specificity of the enzymes in the biosynthetic pathways of epicuticular wax synthesis suggest the possibility that the northwest Nelson region could be a biogenetic centre from which wax synthesis has diversified along three routes, one to the western South Island, another to eastern South Island and the third to southern North Island. Identification of each of the four species based on the distribution of the carbon chain lengths in the individual lipid fractions is impossible unless the locality of collection is known. Intraspecific variation in lipid composition is not coincident with patterns of variation already reported.