The dominant components in floral nectar is fructose, glucose and sucrose. The concentration and the ratio between the sugars are indicative for plant species and play an important part in the interplay between plants and pollinators. In this paper we present a novel HPLC-ELSD based analytical method for sugar characterization of nectar from orchids. Nectar was collected on Whatman No. 1 paper and preserved in the field by 70 v/v% ethanol. The analytical method had a linear range up to at least 3000 mg L⁻¹ for all 3 sugars with a precision of 1.5–1.7%. Correlation coefficients were 0.9999 to 1.0000. The LOD of all sugars were 5–7 mg L⁻¹ and the LOQ were 17–19 mg L⁻¹. Field samples were stable for min. 7 weeks at −18 °C. The technique was applied to two species of Platanthera (Orchidaceae) in order to test whether species-related differences in sugar composition could be observed. No differences were found between the two species, which were sucrose-dominant (53.5–100%) though with high variation within species and between individual flowers.

花蜜中的主要成分是果糖，葡萄糖和蔗糖。糖之间的浓度和比例是植物种类的指标，并且在植物和授粉媒介之间的相互作用中起着重要的作用。在本文中，我们提出了一种基于HPLC-ELSD的新型分析方法，用于表征兰花中花蜜的糖分。花蜜收集在Whatman 1号纸上，并用70 v / v％的乙醇保存在田间。该分析方法对所有3种糖的线性范围至少为3000 mg L ^-1，精确度为1.5–1.7％。相关系数为0.9999至1.0000。所有糖的LOD为5–7 mg L ^-1，LOQ为17–19 mg L ^-1。野外样品稳定至少1分钟。在-18°C下放置7周。为了检测是否可以观察到物种相关的糖成分差异，将该技术应用于了两种梧桐（兰科）。在两个物种之间没有发现差异，蔗糖占优势（53.5–100％），尽管物种内部和单个花之间差异很大。