Acta Pharm. 53 (2003) 145–149 Short communication External flavonoid aglycones from

External flavonoid aglycones (mainly methylated derivatives) are accumulated in several medicinal species, on their leaf and stem surfaces (1). Many studies have indi-cated the increasing importance of flavonoid aglycones as biologically active natural products (2–4). This emphasizes the importance of further studies on their distribution in medicinal plants and natural cures. Some Veronica species are used for their diaphoretic, astringent, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, radical scavenging and anti-ulcer activities (5–7). Veronica chamaedrys L. is a perennial herb, growing wild and abundantly in north hemisphere (8). Although high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been applied to the analyses of flavone aglycones (9) no method has been reported for separation of this compounds in Veronica species. The aim of this work was to analyse the external fla-vonoid aglycones in Veronica chamaedrys using HPLC method