THE ISOCITRIC ACID CONTENT OF CRASSULACEAN PLANTS AND A FEW SUCCULENT SPECIES FROM OTHER FAMILIES

Soderstrom , Thomas R. (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) The isocitric acid content of crassulacean plants and a few succulent species from other families. Amer. Jour. Bot. 49(8): 850–855. 1962.—The leaves of 58 species of plants were assayed for isocitric acid content by the highly specific enzymatic method of Grafflin and Ochoa (1950). These species included 39 from the family Urassulaceae in addition to 19 species of succulents representing 8 families and 12 genera. With but one exception (Echeveria derenbergii), isocitric acid was found in relatively large concentrations in the leaves of all crassulacean species examined, and was recorded for the first time in 5 genera of this family. Isocitric acid was found in 2 genera of the Liliaceae and in 1 genus of the Piperaceae, families in which it previously had not been known to occur. The presence of substantial concentrations of isocitric acid in the leaves appears to be characteristic of the family Crassulaceae and of certain genera in other widely unrelated families. There is no indication, however, that the concentrations of this acid in the leaves of species and genera of the Crassulaceae is correlated with their affinities based on morphology.