Abstract
TAXONOMISTS have used the composition of the soluble carbohydrate fraction of grass seeds in the biochemical differentiation of grass species1,2. Sucrose is usually the most abundant sugar, but the presence of the raffinose group in the seeds of certain temperate species of grasses and legumes has been established. McLeod2 found raffinose and stachyose in the seeds of Brachypodium spp. whereas Bromus spp. contained neither, and of twenty-two temperate species of Gramineae examined she found raffinose in 70 per cent and stachyose in 45 per cent.
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References
de Cugnac, A., Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., 13, 1 (1931).
McLeod, A. M., and McCorquodale, H., New Phytol., 57, 168 (1958).
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LEHMANN, K., MCILROY, R. Soluble Carbohydrates in the Seeds of Tropical Pasture Species. Nature 216, 1044–1045 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2161044a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2161044a0
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