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AOBPreview originally published online on July 3, 2007
Annals of Botany 2007 100(2):225-231; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm120
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Epicuticular Wax Crystals of Wollemia nobilis: Morphology and Chemical Composition

Simona Dragota and Markus Riederer*

Universität Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Institut für Biowissenschaften, D-97082 Würzburg, Germany

* For correspondence. E-mail riederer{at}uni-wuerzburg.de

Received: 22 December 2006    Returned for revision: 16 April 2007    Accepted: 26 April 2007    Published electronically: 3 July 2007

Background and Aims: The morphology of the epicuticular leaf waxes of Wollemia nobilis (Araucariaceae) was studied with special emphasis on the relationship between the microstructure of epicuticular wax crystals and their chemical composition. Wollemia nobilis is a unique coniferous tree of the family Araucariaceae and is of very high scientific value as it is the sole living representative of an ancient genus, which until 1994 was known only from fossils.

Methods: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), gas chromatography (GC) combined with mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were used for characterizing the morphology and the chemical structure of the epicuticular wax layer of W. nobilis needles.

Key Results: The main component of the leaf epicuticular wax of W. nobilis is nonacosan-10-ol. This secondary alcohol together with nonacosane diols is responsible for the tubular habit of the epicuticular wax crystals. Scanning electron micrographs revealed differences in the fine structure of adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces that could be explained by gas chromatographic studies after selective mechanical removal of the waxes.

Conclusions: SEM investigations established the tubular crystalline microstructure of the epicuticular wax of W. nobilis leaves. GC–MS and NMR experiments showed that nonacosan-10-ol is the major constituent of the epicuticular wax of W. nobilis leaves.

Key words: Wollemia nobilis, epicuticular wax, nonacosan-10-ol, nonacosane diols, SEM


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