A New Flavonol from Athrixia phylicoides (Bush Tea)

Athrixia phylicoides (bush tea), belonging to the Asteraceae family, is a popular beverage used as a herbal tea and for medicinal purposes. The processed leaves of bush tea contain 5-hydroxy-6,7,8,3',4',5'-hexamethoxyflavon-3-ol as major flavonoid. Athrixia phylicoides DC. (bush tea) belongs to the Asteraceae family. 1 It has small, dark green pointed leaves with white woolly backs and small pink or mauve-pink daisy flowers with a bright yellow centre. 2 Bush tea is a popular beverage used as a herbal tea and as a medicinal plant for cleansing or purifying the blood, treating boils, headaches, infested wounds and cuts, and the solutions may also be used as a foam bath. 3 It is used as an aphrodisiac by Vhavenda people, 4 and the Zulu people use a decoction of the root as a cough remedy and purgative. 5 As part of a study of the viability of bush tea as an agricultural enterprise, we investigated the flavonoid and phenolic constituents of A. philicoides. In herbal teas, flavanols and polyphenols are the potential quality indicators since they are antioxidant in nature. Flavonoids have a wide range of physiological activity (for example cAMP diphosphoesterase inhibition, 6 growth inhibi- tion,