Licania pittieri

Licania pittieri Prance is a tree up to 15 meters high growing in the cloud forests at 1800 m in altitude. From the methanol extract of the leaves, collected in the Parque Nacional Henry Pittieri, oleanolic acid (1), ursolic acid (2), catechin (3), epicatechin (4), quercetin (5), and four glycosidic derivatives, quercetin 3-O-P-D-galactopyranoside (6), quercetin 3-O-P-D-glucopyranoside (7), quercetin 3-O-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (8), and quercetin 3-O-a-L-arabinopyranoside (9) were identified directly by comparing their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature and/or authentic samples [see Fig. (1)] [5]. 

In the course of our phytochemical work we studied seven Licania species all belonging to Venezuelan flora, collected in Puerto Ayacucho, Estado Amazonas and in the Parque Nacional Henry Pittieri, Maracay, Estado Aragua. A number of new and known secondary metabolites, mainly flavonoids, especially flavonol glycosides, sterols, and triterpenes having the lupane, ursane, and oleanane skeleton were isolated and characterized. The last part of this chapter deals also with the isolation of clerodane diterpenes from the methanol extract of L. intrapetiolaris by Oberlies et al., 2001 [4]. All the Licania species investigated up to now are reported in Table 1. 

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