Study the effects of drying processes on chemical compositions in daylily flowers using flow injection mass spectrometric fingerprinting method and chemometrics.

Daylily flowers is an important vegetable in eastern Asia, widely used in many dishes. Daylily flowers are usually sold in dried forms in the supermarkets. There are a few method for processing fresh daylily flowers, however, no study has been conducted to analyze the effects of the processing methods in the composition of final products. In the present study, a flow-injection mass spectrometric fingerprinting (FIMS) method in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) was used to differentiate two species of daylily flowers (Mengzi and Chongli) with three different treatments (vacuum freeze drying, solar drying and hot-air drying treatments) for each. The results showed the fast and simple FIMS method could successfully differentiate between species (raw material) and treatments among each species. However, the two species could not be discriminated very well after being processed in hot-air drying treatment. The difference in chemical profiles of species and treatments were discussed.

Effects of population succession on demographic and genetic processes: predictions and tests in the daylily Hemerocallis thunbergii (Liliaceae).

Spatial genetic structure within plant populations is influenced by variation in demographic processes through space and time, including a population's successional status. To determine how demographic structure and fine-scale genetic structure (FSGS) change with stages in a population's successional history, we studied Hemerocallis thunbergii (Liliaceae), a nocturnal flowering and hawkmoth-pollinated herbaceous perennial with rapid population turnover dynamics. We examined nine populations assigned to three successive stages of population succession: expansion, maturation, and senescence. We developed stage-specific expectations for within-population demographic and genetic structure, and then for each population quantified the spatial aggregation of individuals and genotypes using spatial autocorrelation methods (nonaccumulative O-ring and kinship statistics, respectively), and at the landscape level measured inbreeding and genetic structure using Wright's F-statistics. Analyses using the O-ring statistic revealed significant aggregation of individuals at short spatial scales in expanding and senescing populations, in particular, which may reflect restricted seed dispersal around maternal individuals combined with relatively low local population densities at these stages. Significant FSGS was found for three of four expanding, no mature, and only one senescing population, a pattern generally consistent with expectations of successional processes. Although allozyme genetic diversity was high within populations (mean %P = 78.9 and H(E) = 0.281), landscape-level differentiation among sites was also high (F(ST) = 0.166) and all populations exhibited a significant deficit of heterozygotes relative to Hardy-Weinberg expectations (range F = 0.201-0.424, mean F(IS) = 0.321). Within populations, F was not correlated with the degree of FSGS, thus suggesting inbreeding due primarily to selfing as opposed to mating among close relatives in spatially structured populations. Our results demonstrate considerable variation in the spatial distribution of individuals and patterns and magnitude of FSGS in H. thunbergii populations across the landscape. This variation is generally consistent with succession-stage-specific differences in ecological processes operating within these populations.