Aizoaceae family

Although the alkaloids of the mesembrane type are structurally similar to certain alkaloids of the family Amaryllidaceae, they are generally found in the plants of the family Aizoaceae, but there have been several exceptions to this generalization. For example, amisine (580) has been isolated from Hymenocallis arenicola Northrop (57), and mesembrenol (581) has been isolated from Crinum oliganthum (41). The isolation of 580 and 581 represented the first instances in... 

Tyrosine or proline Betalains Families of the Centrospermae (e.g. Cactaceae, Aizoaceae, Portulacaceae, Phytolaccaceae)... 

Crassulacean Acid Metabolism has been documented in at least 18 flowering plant families (Table 1.1). As of 1977, there were recorded in the literature 109 genera and over 300 species of flowering plants (cf. Black and Williams, 1976 Szarek and Ting, 1977) with CAM. The largest and most important CAM families are the Cactaceae, the Crassulaceae, the Euphorbiaceae, the Aizoaceae, and perhaps the Liliaceae, especially if Agavaceae are included with the lilies. The epiphytic forms of the Bromeliaceae and the Orchidaceae make these families important. 

The family Aizoaceae (also referred to by various authors as Ficoidaceae or Mesembryaceae) is described in detail by Jacobsen (1960). It is a large family with over 100 genera and 600 species. By and large, the species are leaf succulents. 

Of the 11 succulent families surveyed by Dittrich et al. (1973) the Asclepiada-ceae, Bromeliaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Liliaceae, and Vitaceae had substantial PEP carboxykinase activity (a mean of about 8 pmol min" mg chi" ). The remaining seven families (Agavaceae, Aizoaceae, Asteraceae, Cactaceae, Crassulaceae, Orchidaceae, and some members of the Liliaceae) showed little or no PEP carboxykinase activity. 

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