Phytochemical Screening and Antioxidant Activity of Seven Native Species Growing in the Forests of Southern Chilean Patagonia.

The genus is one of the most abundant in the subantarctic Patagonian forests. Five species inhabit these ecosystems, three evergreen (, , and ) and two deciduous ( and ). This is the first report on the levels of secondary metabolites and the antioxidant capacity of Patagonian tree species growing in natural environments. The aim of this work was to carry out a phytochemical screening, to determine the antioxidant capacity, the sun protection factor, and the α-glucosidase and tyrosinase inhibitory activity of foliar extracts of the five previous species. Besides, and , two species of Patagonian shrubs growing in the same forests, were used as reference. was the with the best antioxidant capacity. differed from all studied species. Moreover, the was split into two groups. and are the most similar species to . The α-glucosidase was completely inhibited by all studied extracts. Furthermore, , , and inhibited about 70% of the tyrosinase activity. All the results found in this study for the species of the genus support further research on their potential beneficial properties for human health.