99 ACTA ZOOLOGICA BULGARICA Acta zool. bulg., Suppl. 11, 2018: 99-104 Research Article Introduction Plants represent an inexhaustible source of compo- nents for the development of new drugs, thanks to their properties to absorb simple molecules and in- clude them in complex, biologically active products. The rapidly growing scientifc knowledge in this feld is explained by the revived interest of research- ers in the healing power of plants based on tradition- al medicine and folklore data. The Hellenic nature explorer and philoso- pher Theophrastus notes in his work “Enquiry into Plants” that Thrace is the richest region of medicinal plants in the then world (Petkov 1982). Due to the diverse climatic conditions and soil diversity of the region, Bulgarian plants contain a high percentage of biologically active substances. They are rich in various chemical compounds such as alkaloids, gly- cosides, saponins, polysaccharides, tanning agents (tannins), favonoids, lignans, coumarins, essential oils, vitamins, trace elements, etc. The healing ef- fects and the application of many of them have been already studied. In the world practice, about 40% of the pharmaceuticals/medical products produced by the chemical and pharmaceutical industry are pre- pared from plant raw materials. The knowledge about the healing potential of some popular tree species is based on the benefcial efects of various preparations of their fruits, fow- ers, leaves and bark. Although the heartwoods of these plants are used to produce barrels facilitating the aging and coloring of high-alcoholic beverages, there is still insufcient scientifc data on the efect of the extracted active heartwood components on human health. Material and methods The focus of our interest was on the arboreal species traditionally used for manufacturing barrels for col- orization and maturation of alcoholic beverages and we collected information about the plant constituents extracted during the process of coloration and matu- ration. We used the PubMed database (https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) searches with keywords, as well as highly regarded publications in the feld Traditional usage of heartwoods from diferent arboreal species in inland and coastal regions of Bulgaria Milena G. Pasheva, Milka A. Nashar, Dobri L. Ivanov & Diana G. Ivanova Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University – Varna, 84 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, 9000 Varna, Bulgaria; pasheva19@gmail.com; nacharbg@yahoo.com; d.ivanov@mu-varna.bg; dg_ivanova@yahoo.com Abstract: Plants have been used in Bulgarian traditions for thousands of years. Apart of the knowledge about the healing potential of some popular tree species, stems and heartwood are used traditionally in Bulgaria for coloring of hard alcoholic beverages. Popular believes suggest that colored drinks in small quantities could possess certain health benefcial efects due to the plant constituents extracted during the process of coloration. Here we present an overview of the arboreal species, known to be used for manufacturing of barrels for maturation or for coloring of beverages at home in Bulgaria. Based on the existing data, we suggested that the specifc phytochemical characteristics of the heartwoods of diferent species could con- tribute for the organoleptic characteristics of the colorized beverages as well as for their benefcial efects on the metabolism when consumed in moderate quantities. Key words: heartwood aqueous-ethanolic extracts; mulberry; black locust; oak; smoketree.