Seed alkaloid composition of Lupinus tassilicus Maire (Fabaceae: Genisteae) and comparison with its related rough seeded lupin species

Seed alkaloid composition of L. tassilicus from African Central Sahara was studied and compared with its related rough seeded Old World lupin species. Epilupinine and multiflorine clearly represented the major alkaloids (90-99% of total yield) in all the 12 samples of the five species surveyed. Alkaloid data did not reveal significant qualitative changes among samples and provided a real fingerprint for the whole group of rough seeded lupins. On the basis of the ratio of epilupinine to multiflorine, it was possible to distinguish two subgroups of populations: on one side, those accumulating predominantly multiflorine and essentially distributed in Mediterranean region; on the other side, those containing epilupinine as the major alkaloid and mainly originated from the desert and arid regions of Africa. Alkaloid data support the close affinity between the L. tassilicus forms of Algeria and Libya, and between these latters and L. digitatus from Egypt. However, further investigations are still to be developed to elucidate the taxonomic status of L. tassilicus within the rough seeded lupin species group. Copyright (C) 1996.