Isoflavonoids in non-leguminous taxa: A rarity or a rule?

Isoflavonoids are characteristic metabolites in legumes and an overwhelming number of reports concerning them come from the Leguminosae. Nevertheless, the spectrum of isoflavonoid producing taxa includes the representatives of four classes of multicellular plants, namely the Bryopsida, the Pinopsida, the Magnoliopsida and the Liliopsida. At least 59 non-leguminous families have been reported to produce isoflavones sensu lato; coumestans have...