Pharmacognostical Study on Three Medicinal Plants of Genus Paris

OBJECTIVE To carry out systematic pharmacognostical research on 3 kinds of medicinal materials:Paris tengchongensis, Paris daliensis and Paris caojianensis. METHODS The original plant observation, paraffin section, chloral hydrate permeation method, and HPLC were used to systematically study 3 medicinal plants of Genus Paris. RESULTS The morphology of the original plants was significantly different, but the characteristics of the medicinal materials, the cross-section of the rhizome and the microscopic characteristics of the powder were similar. There were 6 kinds of ingredients, such as polyphyllin VII, polyphyllin VI, polyphyllin II, polyphyllin III, gracillin and polyphyllin I were detected in Paris tengchongensis. Only polyphyllin VII and polyphyllin VI were detected in Paris caojianensis and Paris daliensis. CONCLUSION Microscopic identification cannot distinguish the three kinds of Paris effectively, but the HPLC of the 3 species are significantly different, which can be used as an effective method for the identification of three kinds of Paris.