Floral nectar chemical composition of some species from Patagonia

Floral nectar chemical compositions of 29 species native to Argentinian Patagonia are reported. Most data obtained are new reports at the generic and/or the specific level. Their nectar has a high mean concentration ((x) over bar = 44.63 +/- 11.91; %, wt/(total wt of solution)). Most of the species are hexose dominant (72.41%) or hexose rich (17.24%), regardless of the floral syndrome or their systematic relatedness. A few are sucrose dominant (10.34%). The hexose ratio shows that in most species (86.20%) glucose predominates over fructose. The nectar of around 90% of the species has amino acids, whereas only in around 50% of them were lipids detected. Phenols are present in around 60% of the 48 samples analysed. All the species are entomophilous, mainly melittophilous. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.