Chemotaxonomy: Distribution studies of sulfur compounds in Allium

Twenty-seven samples of Old World and two New World species of Allium have been investigated and the nature and amount of many of the sulfur compounds determined by gas chromatography. Using the sectional classification of L.K. Mann, comparisons were made as to the kind and amounts of these compounds present in species within each section. More often than not, members of each section showed similar characteristic chromatographic patterns for the sulfur compounds, whereas there were distinct differences in pattern at the sectional level.