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Flavonoids

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Natural Products of Woody Plants

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Wood Science ((SSWOO))

Abstract

The flavonoid pigments, one of the most numerous and widespread groups of natural constituents, are of importance and interest not only because of their significant natural functions in the economy of the plant, but also because certain members of the group are physiologically active in humans. There is indeed considerable current interest in the effects flavonoids exert in animal systems (17). Flavonoids are found in all vascular plants and at least 4000 different structures have been reported to date (14, 15). One group of flavonoids, the anthocyanins, are intensely colored and their contributions to red and blue colors in flowers, fruits, and other plant tissues are well known. Such compounds have rarely been reported in woods. It is the other classes of flavonoid that lack intense color — namely the flavones, flavonols, flavanones, and flavanonols — that occur predominantly in woody tissues.

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Authors
  1. J. B. Harborne
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, USDA, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI, 53705-2398, USA

    John W. Rowe

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Harborne, J.B. (1989). Flavonoids. In: Rowe, J.W. (eds) Natural Products of Woody Plants. Springer Series in Wood Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74075-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74075-6_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74077-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74075-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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