The wide variety of alkaloids found in these species have allowed their use in phylogenetic studies of the genus. The evolution of these secondary metabolites, apparently, occurred in parallel with morphological evolution. This is reflected in the simplest alkaloids, pyrrolidine derivatives, present in the genus's most primitive clade ("Schizanthus integrifolius" and other white flowered species), up to the dimeric and trimeric derivatives of tropanes, such as those found in "Schizanthus grahamii" (grahamine) or the tropanol diesters, the dimers of mesaconic and itaconic acids, present in "Schizanthus hookerii" and "Schizanthus litoralis".