RP-HPLC analysis of phenolic acids of selected Central European Carex L. (Cyperaceae) species and its implication for taxonomy.

Eighteen species belonging to the Carex genus were checked for the presence and the amount of eight phenolic acids (p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, caffeic, syringic, protocatechuic, p-coumaric, sinapic, and ferulic) by means of HPLC. Both the free and bonded phenolic acids were analyzed. The majority of the analyzed acids occurred in the studied species in relatively high amounts. The highest concentrations found were caffeic acid and p-coumaric acid, for which the detected levels were negatively correlated. A very interesting feature was the occurrence of sinapic acid, a compound very rarely detected in plant tissues. Its distribution across the analyzed set of species can be hypothetically connected with the humidity of plants' habitats. Several attempted tests of aggregative cluster analysis showed no similarity to the real taxonomical structure of the genus Carex. Thus, the phenolic acids' composition cannot be considered as the major taxonomical feature for the genus Carex.