Generic Relationships in the Ulmaceae Based on Flavonoid Chemistry

Summary The family Ulmaceae is most often treated as a single family with two subfamilies: The Ulmeae (Ulmoideae) and Celteae (Celtidoideae) or, more recently, as two separate families: the Ulmaceae and the Celtidaceae (sensu Grudzinskaya). A flavonoid survey of 80 species of Ulmaceae shows that each of the 19 genera is characterized by the production of flavonols (Ulmoid) or glycoflavones (Celtoid), but not both. Further, the arrangement of genera based on this flavonoid dichotomy is remarkably compatible with the generic assignments in Grudzinskaya's bifamilial concept of the Ulmaceae. The only exceptions are Ampelocera, Aphananthe, and Gironniera (in part), which are normally considered Celtoid but possess Ulmoid (flavonols) chemistry. However, recent anatomical and morphological studies of these three genera indicate that their relationship to the Celtoid line may not be as direct as has been supposed, a point also suggested by the flavonoid chemistry.