Abstract: Six varieties of loquat leaves picked from positions 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 (from the top downward) on branches of the same age surrounding the tree crown were analyzed for their contents of 12 functional components. The results showed that the contents of the 12 components were different among leaf positions for each loquat cultivar, and their variation trends were likewise different. The contents of neochlorogenic acid and chlorogenic acid decreased rapidly with increasing leaf position, while the content of corosolic acid increased obviously. The contents of total phenols, flavonoids and triterpenic acid in ‘Dawuxing’, ‘Marc’ and ‘Jialing’ increased with the increase of leaf position, but they did not change significantly in the other three varieties. The mean values of total phenolics, flavonoids, total triterpenic acid, ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, catechin, neochlorogenic acid and isoquercetin in the leaves of ‘Dawuxing’ were significantly higher than in the other 5 varieties, and ‘Dawuxing’ scored higher in principal component evaluation.

Key words: loquat leaves, different varieties, leaf position, functional components