A seed germination inhibitor from Araucaria columnaris is absent in Pinus edulis

Due to plant’s immobile nature, they have evolved efficient chemical methods to defend themselves from predators and to enable communication with other organisms. A previous experiment has isolated 4’,4’ ’ ’,7,7’ ‘-tetra-O-methylcupressuflavone, a biflavonoid from the Araucaria columnaris (Cook pine), and confirmed its inhibitory activity against seed germination. These findings supported the hypothesis that TMCF contributed to reduced plant growth in the area surrounding an A. columnaris tree. We also observed reduced plant growth under a Pinus edulis (Colorado pine) on campus of Pepperdine University. This observation led us to hypothesize that TMCF might also be contributing to reduced plant growth in P. edulis tree. To test this hypothesis, we extracted the compounds from P. edulis needles and analyzed them using Liquid Chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) in order to detect the presence of absence of TMCF. The LCMS analysis indicated that TMCF was not present in the needles of P. edulis. This result led us to reject our hypothesis that TMCF is contributing to the observed reduced plant growth under the P. edulis tree. Our findings show that even though we observed a similar reduction in plant growth beneath A. columnaris and P. edulis trees, they probably use different mechanisms to achieve this effect