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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vo 1. XXII, April 1968 
Cucurbitaceae 1/2 
Dioscoraceae 1/2 
Euphorbiaceae 9/18 
Flagellariaceae 1/1 
Labiatae 1/2 
Lauraceae 2 / 2 . 
Legumincsae 23/30 
Loganiaceae 2/2 
Malvaceae 4/5 
Melastomaceae 1/1 
Meliaceae 1/1 
Moraceae 4/8 
Nyctaginaceae 1/1 
Orchidaceae 1/2 
Piperaceae 2 /4 
Polygalaceae 1/1 
Rubiaceae 2/11 
Rutaceae 1 /2 
Solanaceae 2 /2 
Sterculiaceae 4/5 
Urticaceae 1 /4 
Verbenaceae 6/8 
Vitaceae 1/4 
Zingiberaceae 1/1 
It would be of value to tabulate on a per- 
centage basis the positive alkaloid families. 
However, the number of species sampled per 
family is too small in some cases to permit this 
and could only lead to erroneous interpretations. 
Similarly, a table to show, in descending 
order, the number of good alkaloidal species 
would also be misleading. This would show 
Leguminosae as the most promising whereas, 
in point of fact, species of Leguminosae were 
most prolific and easily collected. 
However, one may be permitted the statistic 
that 58% of all families tested were alkaloid 
positive. This, of course, may only mean that 
the author was fortunate in collecting such 
specimens, and does not necessarily represent 
the ratio of alkaloidal to non-alkaloidal plants 
on Guadalcanal. 
Sap on ms 
The number of families represented by the 
specimens tested is 48 (within the limits of 
identification available). 
The following 21 families contain species 
which gave positive tests for saponins. The first 
figure is the number of positives obtained (in- 
cluding L/B positives), and the second figure 
is the number of specimens tested in each 
family. 
Acanthaceae 1/5 
Amarantaceae 1 /2 
Apocyanaceae 1/5 
Araliaceae 1/3 
Boraginaceae 1/3 
Compositae 2 /6 
Cucurbitaceae 1 /2 
Dioscoraceae 2 /2 
Euphorbiaceae 5/15 
Goodeniaceae 1 /2 
Labiatae 1 /2 
Leguminosae 4/21 
Liliaceae 1 /4 
Malvaceae 1/5 
Passifloraceae 1/1 
Polygalaceae 1/1 
Rubiaceae 4/11 
Sapindaceae 1 /2 
Solanaceae 1/1 
Sterculiaceae 1 /3 
Verbenaceae 2/6 
Of the total families tested for saponins, 
42% gave a positive result either from water 
or alkali or the L/B test. In some cases the L/B 
test failed to show any colour, and these have 
been recorded as negative. In one case only 
(Apocyanaceae) was the L/B test positive when 
both the water and the alkali froth tests 
were negative. 
REFERENCES 
Bamford, F. 1947. The Alkaloids from Poisons, 
Their Isolation and Identification, 2nd ed., 
J. A. Churchill, London. 
Henry, T. A. 1929. The Vegetable Alkaloids. 
In: C. A. Mitchell, ed., Allen’s Commercial 
Organic Analysis, Vol. 7. J. A. Churchill, 
London. 
Swanholm, C. E., H. St. John, and P. J. 
Scheuer. 1959. A survey for alkaloids in 
Hawaiian plants. Part 1. Pacific Sci. 13(3): 
295-305. 
I960. A survey for alkaloids in 
Hawaiian plants. Part 2. Pacific Sci. 14(1): 
68-74. 
