Verbascoside is a phenylethanoid and a caffeic acid

Caffeic acid

Caffeic acid is a hydroxycinnamic acid, a naturally occurring organic compound. This yellow solid consists of both phenolic and acrylic functional groups...

 sugar ester. It can be found in species in the Lamiales

Lamiales

Lamiales is an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes approximately 11,000 species divided into about 20 families...

 order (in the family Scrophulariaceae

Scrophulariaceae

Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family, are a family of flowering plants. The plants are annual or perennial herbs with flowers with bilateral or rarely radial symmetry. Members of the Scrophulariaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority found in temperate areas, including...

, Verbascum phlomoides and Verbascum mallophorum, in the Bignoniaceae

Bignoniaceae

The Bignoniaceae, or Trumpet Creeper Family, is a family of flowering plants comprising about 650-750 species in 116-120 genera. Members of the family are mostly trees and lianas , shrubs and more rarely herbaceous plants. As climber plants, they are twine climbers or tendril climbers, and rarely...

 family, Pithecoctenium

Pithecoctenium

Pithecoctenium is a Bignoniaceae genus of some 20 species of climbing shrubs occurring in the Caribbean and Tropical South America from Brazil to Mexico. Leaves are opposite with 3 entire and stalked leaflets, the terminal leaflet sometimes being modified into a tendril. The genus has distinctive...

 sp and Tynanthus panurensis

Tynanthus panurensis

Tynanthus panurensis, also known as Clavohuasca, clavo huasca, clove vine, white clove, cipó cravo, cipó trindade is a large, woody vine that grows up to 80 m in length. It is native to the Amazon rainforest and other parts of tropical South America. It produces small, white flowers and long,...

, in the Orobanchaceae

Orobanchaceae

Orobanchaceae, the broomrape family, is a family of flowering plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera were formerly included in the family Scrophulariaceae sensu lato...

 family, Cistanche

Cistanche

Cistanche is a worldwide genus of holoparasitic desert plants in the family Orobanchaceae. They lack chlorophyll and obtain nutrients and water from the host plants whose roots they parasitize.-Uses:...

 sp and Orobanche rapum-genistae

Orobanche rapum-genistae

Orobanche rapum-genistae, the greater broomrape, is a plant species in the genus Orobanche.O. rapum-genistae contains verbascoside and orobanchoside-See also:* List of the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland 6* Biota of the Isle of Man...

and in the Buddlejaceae family Buddleja globosa

Buddleja globosa

Buddleja globosa, also known as the Orange Ball Buddleja, is a species endemic to Chile and Argentina, where it grows in dry and moist forest, from sea level to 2,000 m. The species was first described and named by Hope in 1782 -Description:...

or Buddleja cordata

Buddleja cordata

Buddleja cordata is endemic to Mexico, growing along forest edges and water courses at elevations of 1500 – 3000 m.-Description:B. cordata is a large deciduous shrub or tree...

). It has also been isolated from Lantana camara

Lantana camara

Lantana camara, also known as Spanish Flag or West Indian Lantana, is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the American tropics. It has been introduced into other parts of the world as an ornamental plant and is considered an invasive species in many...

(Verbenaceae

Verbenaceae

Verbenaceae, commonly known as the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell.Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that...

). It can also be produced in plant cell cultures of Leucosceptrum sp (Lamiaceae

Lamiaceae

The mints, taxonomically known as Lamiaceae or Labiatae, are a family of flowering plants. They have traditionally been considered closely related to Verbenaceae, but in the 1990s, phylogenetic studies suggested that many genera classified in Verbenaceae belong instead in Lamiaceae...

) and Syringa sp (Oleaceae

Oleaceae

Oleaceae are a family containing 24 extant genera and around 600 species of mesophytic shrubs, trees and occasionally vines. As shrubs, members of this family may be twine climbers, or scramblers.-Leaves:...

).

Verbascoside derivatives can be found in the Verbascum undulatum and notably apiosides in Verbascum sp.

Verbascoside has an antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...

 activity, notably against Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus is a facultative anaerobic Gram-positive coccal bacterium. It is frequently found as part of the normal skin flora on the skin and nasal passages. It is estimated that 20% of the human population are long-term carriers of S. aureus. S. aureus is the most common species of...

. It can also have anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory refers to the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation. Anti-inflammatory drugs make up about half of analgesics, remedying pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system....

 properties.

It shows a genotoxicity on human lymphocyte

Lymphocyte

A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells...

s with an involvement of PARP-1 and p53 proteins. It is a protein kinase C

Protein kinase C

Protein kinase C also known as PKC is a family of enzymes that are involved in controlling the function of other proteins through the phosphorylation of hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine amino acid residues on these proteins. PKC enzymes in turn are activated by signals such as increases in...

inhibitor.