Phenolic compounds are mostly found in vascular plants (tracheophytes) i.e. Lycopodiophyta (lycopods), Pteridophyta (ferns and horsetails), Angiosperms (flowering plants or Magnoliophyta) and Gymnosperms (conifers, cycads, Ginkgo and Gnetales). 
In ferns, compounds such as kaempferol and its glucoside can be isolated from the methanolic extract of fronds of Phegopteris connectilis or kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, a known bitter-tasting flavonoid glycoside, can be isolated from the rhizomes of Selliguea feei. Hypogallic acid, caffeic acid, paeoniflorin and pikuroside can be isolated from the freshwater fern Salvinia molesta.
In conifers (Pinophyta), phenolics are stored in polyphenolic parenchyma cells, a tissue abundant in the phloem of all conifers.
The aquatic plant Myriophyllum spicatum produces ellagic, gallic and pyrogallic acids and (+)-catechin.