The Variations of Vitamin C and Phenolics Contents in Leaves of Diospyros L.

The Vitamin C and phenolics contents in 15 cultivars of persimmon and 5 wild species of Diospyros were determined.The result showed that wild species contained highest content of Vc, Phenolics and flavenes. Vc content was more than 10 mg·g in all materials except for "luotian tian shi" and D.rhombifolia and appeared the trend of wild speciesastringent type cultivarsnon-astringent type cultivars. It dropped markedly in most non-astringent type cultivars along with changing of season, while others fluctuated in a narrow extent. Oven dried persimmon leaves remained as much as 8.88% of Vc in fresh leaves on oven dried basis. The annual average content of total phenolic compounds in wild species was 44.91 mg·g-1(FW) which was the highest among tested materials and the tendency of seasonal fluctuation in all species and cultivars was similar to Vc. Phenolic acids in persimmon leaves consists of 8 components in which gallic acid, caffeic acid, t-cinnamic and p-coumaric acid account for 48%, 21%, 12% and 10% respectively. Total flavenes content was more than 5 mg·g-1 in all materials with little seasonal fluctuation, among which D.oleifera was the richest with the annual average content of 11.42 mg·g-1(FW).It was proposed that extraction and exploitation of active constituents in Diospyros should choose proper species (or cultivars) and seasons according to different purposes.