* Corresponding author. Tel. : 44 1392 264605; fax: 44 1392 264668; e-mail: l.n.dinan@exeter.ac.uk. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 26 (1998) 695 — 698 Phytoecdysteroids in the genus ¸imonium (Plumbaginaceae) Pensri Whiting, Tamara Savchenko, Satyajit D. Sarker, Huw H. Rees, Laurence Dinan *  Department of Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Hatherly Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4PS, UK  School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Life Sciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK Received 4 February 1998; accepted 18 March 1998 Keywords: ¸imonium spp.; Plumbaginaceae; Phytoecdysteroid; Ecdysteroid; Seeds; Agonist; Antagonist; Chemotaxonomy 1. Subject and source ¸imonium Mill. (Family: Plumbaginaceae) is a large genus of ca. 180 species which are mainly perennial herbs, sometimes annuals or shrubs, widely distributed in different parts of the world (Bailey, 1977). They are often grown in rockeries, green- houses or for cut-flowers. Seeds of different taxa of this genus were purchased from commercial seed suppliers in the UK (Table 1). 2. Previous work Reports on the occurrence of anthocyanins (Beck et al., 1962; Chumbalov and Kil, 1962a), flavonoids (Movsumov, 1997; Ross, 1984; Harborne, 1966; Chumbalov and Kil, 1962b, c), and tannins (Pinchuk, 1964; Sadykhov, 1962; Alexa et al., 1956, 1952; Alexa and Strub, 1948) in the genus ¸imonium are available. However, no phytoecdys- teroid has yet been reported either from the genus ¸imonium or from the Family Plumbaginaceae. 0305-1978/98/$19.00  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0305-1978(98)00036-2