| Abstract: | The qualitative and quantitative compositions of the intracuticular lipids of the leaves and fruits of four species of Citrus have been examined. The leaf cuticular membranes (280–316 μg/cm2) were well developed and contained high proportions of cutin (77–87%) of which isomers of dihydroxyhexadecanoic acid (79–82%) were the most abundant monomers. The fruit membranes (221–271 μg/cm2) contained smaller proportions of cutin (59–67%) whose major monomeric constituents were dihydroxyhexadecanoic acid (30–62%) and 16-hydroxyoxo-hexadecanoic acid (21–57%). The substantial amounts of cuticular wax (34–68 μg/cm2) located within the membranes consisted largely of fatty acids (68–97%) with hexadecanoic acid (44–78%) and octadecanoic acid (11–39%) present as the main components. |
