Figure 2.

Flavan-3-ol profiles in leaves of 10-year-old Shuchazao plants grown in the field. (a) leaf morphologies on a new branch in spring; (b–e) HPLC profiles showing flavan-3-ols from buds (b), the 1st leaf (c), the 2nd leaf (d), the 3rd leaf (e), and 4th leaf (f). (g) standards, (+)-Ca: catechin, (−)-EC: (−)-epicatechin, (−)-GC: (−)-gallocatechin, (−)-EGC: (−)-epigallocatechin, (−)-ECG: (−)-epicatechin-3-gallate, and (−)-EGCG: (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate; (h) contents of six metabolites in leaves and buds (on each colored line, points labeled with different low case letters mean significant difference, p-value less than 0.05, while labeled with the same ones mean insignificance, p-value higher than 0.05. p-Values were calculated with Student’s t-test).