# Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity in Edible Flower Species from Oxaxa
## 3 Results
### Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity in the Inflorescences of C. tepejilote  
In terms of polyphenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity, the samples of tepejilote inflorescences exhibited different patterns depending on their geographical origin. For example, among the samples from Ayotzintepec, Jalapa de Diaz, and Santa Maria Jacatepec, significant differences were observed among the compounds evaluated and their antioxidant activity. Significant differences were also observed among sample origins. The samples from Jalapa de Diaz 1, 2, and 3 and Santa Maria Jacatepec 3 had the lowest polyphenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity, and they differed significantly from the samples from Ayotzintepec 1 and 2, Santiago Jocotepec, and Santa Maria Jacatepec 1 and 2, which had the highest polyphenol and flavonoid contents. That is, there were  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Communities of Origin of Samples Evaluated**} & \multirow{2}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} **Total** \\ **Polyphenols** \\ **(mg GAE g\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Flavonoids**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Antiox. Activity**} \\  & **Polyphenols** & & **(mg g\({}^{-1}\))** & & **(umol TE g\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \cline{3-6}  & **(mg GAE g\({}^{-1}\))** & **CE 1** & **QE 1** & **DPPH** & **FRAP** \\ \hline Agua Fria Sola de Vega 1 (GU-SS5, ID) & 45.8 d 2 & 24.8 f & 13.8 d & 254.8 de & 373.0 e \\ Agua Fria Sola de Vega 2 (GU-SS8) & 45.6 d & 28.2 de & 24.9 a & 259.1 cd & 436.3 c \\ San Andres Paztlan & 45.3 d & 24.4 f & 13.1 de & 246.7 e & 375.5 e \\ Santos Reyes Sola de Vega 1 (GU-SS6) & 38.7 f & 19.5 h & 11.4 f & 215.4 g & 306.5 f \\ Santos Reyes Sola de Vega 2 (GU-SS7) & 59.6 a & 29.3 cd & 17.3 b & 299.6 a & 482.6 b \\ Santa Cruz Xitla 1 (GU-SS2) & 57.3 ab & 38.1 a & 13.2 de & 293.4 a & 508.7 a \\ Santa Cruz Xitla 2 (GU-SS2) & 54.6 c & 31.1 b & 13.0 de & 274.4 b & 442.2 c \\ Santa Cruz Xitla 3 (GU-SS2) & 56.2 bc & 30.4 bc & 15.0 c & 252.2 de & 458.2 bc \\ San Felipe Zapotilan & 39.7 ef & 18.8 h & 11.4 f & 185.7 h & 290.4 f \\ Santa Lucia Miahuatlan & 47.3 d & 27.0 e & 12.5 e & 266.3 bc & 408.1 d \\ San Pedro El Alto & 41.1 e & 21.9 g & 11.2 f & 233.9 f & 358.1 e \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* CE and QE indicate catechin and quercetin equivalents, respectively; 2 within the columns, means with the same letter do not differ significantly (Tukey’s test, \(p\)\(\leq\) 0.05).  
\end{table}
Table 5: Average total polyphenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity in inflorescences of _D. americana_ collected from different communities of Oaxaca, Mexico.  
significant differences between and within sampled populations or sample origins in terms of polyphenol and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity. The variation in total polyphenols ranged from 1.86 to 3.64 mg GAE g\({}^{-1}\); for catechin-equivalent flavonoids, it ranged from 1.91 to 2.61 mg CE g\({}^{-1}\); and for quercetin-equivalent flavonoids, it ranged from 0.96-1.72 mg QE g\({}^{-1}\). The antioxidant activity evaluated using the DPPH method ranged from 10.1 to 17.0 uml TE g\({}^{-1}\), while that evaluated using the FRAP method ranged from 5.7 to 17.4 uml TE g\({}^{-1}\) (Table 6).  
According to the results of Pearson's correlation analysis, significant and positive correlations were estimated between polyphenol and flavonoid contents with respect to antioxidant activity in extracts of tepeilote inflorescences evaluated using the DPPH (0.70 \(\leq\) r \(\leq\) 0.86; \(p\)\(\leq\) 0.01) and FRAP (0.51 \(\leq\) r \(\leq\) 0.96; \(p\)\(\leq\) 0.01) methods. Notably, the polyphenol content presented the highest correlation values, indicating that the antioxidant activity in the extract is strongly influenced by the variation in total polyphenols.