SummaryHumic acids extracted from the Bh horizon of a kauri (Agathis australis) podzol and the A horizon of a yellow‐brown earth under hard beech (Nothofagus truncata), both New Zealand soils, were fractionated by a ‘salt boundary’ technique using a dextran gel, and the fractions hydrolysed with 6 M hydrochloric acid. Lignin‐derived phenolic acids were analysed by gas chromatography of the ether‐soluble hydrolysis products of the humic acids.The lignin derivatives from the kauri podzol humic acid are probably modern products derived from the present‐day scrub vegetation, whereas those from the yellow‐brown earth humic acid are derived from the deciduo