Bupleuri Radix is one of the most frequently used herbal medicines in China with a 2000-year medicinal history. However, the use of Bupleuri Radix is very confused. Twenty-five species and eight varieties of Bupleurum have been used as Bupleuri Radix in different regions of China. It is very difficult to identify these Bupleurum species using traditional morphological method. In order to establish a fast and effective method to identify these Bupleurum species, we collected 168 Bupleurum medicinal plants from 14 populations of 9 provinces, and amplified their ITS sequences. 168 ITS sequences with a full length of 600-606 bp were obtained. DNAMAN analyzing results showed that 86 variable sites were present in these sequences and 19 haplotypes (TH1-TH19) were determined. After calculating K2P distance and analyzing an NJ tree, we established a molecular identification method based on ITS sequence. Using this method,52 samples of Bupleuri Radix were identified successfully. Furthermore, we tested saikosaponin a, c, d contents in these Bupleuri Radix by HPLC and analyzed the results by ANOVA and LSD T test to evaluate the quality of Bupleuri Radix. This method is significant for effective identification of Bupleurum medicinal plants, and quality control of Bupleuri Radix in the market.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |