Abstract: Some species of Coleus (Labiatae) are used in Chinese folk medicine for the treat-ment of rheumatic arthritis, injuries from falls, catch cold, cough, tuberculosis, hemoptysis neurasthenia, snake-bite and scabies. Searching for the active principles from this genus, we investigated Coleus xanthanthus C. Y. Wu et Y. C. Huang, an endemic plant to Xishuagnbanna of the Yunnan province. Eight compounds have been isolated from the methanol extracts of this plant by column chromatography on silica gel and preparative thin layer chromatography on silica gel. One of these compounds was identified as new constituent named as xanthanthusin A(l), which belongs to abietane quinone diterpenoid.

Key words: Coleus xanthanthus