Differences in the floral anthocyanin content of red petunias and Petunia exserta

In order to resolve a conflict between previous papers regarding the floral anthocyanins of red flowers of Petunia exserta, a naturally occurring species, the HPLC profile of this species was compared with that of commercial red garden petunias. Both HPLC profiles extremely superficially resemble each other in terms of relative amounts and retention times of the major anthocyanins. However, co-elution on HPLC of the mixed sample resulted in clear separation of the components. Three major anthocyanins in red petunias were determined to be cyanidin 3-sophoroside, cyanidin 3-glucoside and peonidin 3-glucoside, which exhibited similar behaviors on HPLC to delphinidin 3-glucoside, delphinidin-3-rutinoside and petunidin 3-rutinoside, respectively, the major floral anthocyanins of P. exserta. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.