OBJECTIVETo explore the character of inorganic elements in Flos Chrysanthemi indici and look for relationship between the element concentration and regions.

METHODThe contents of elements, including borum (B), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium(Ca), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), strontium (Sr), cesium (Se), barium(Ba) and lead(Pb) in Chinese traditional herb Flos Chrysanthemi indici from different regions were determined by ICP-AES. The element distrubution diagram were plotted. The principal component analysis and correlation analysis of SPSS were applied for the study of characteristic elements.

RESULTSimilar curves of element concentration have been acquired. It is observed that the content of elements in the samples shows regional diversity. There are 15 correlative element pairs in correlation analysis. Four principal components which accounted for over 84.437% of the total variance were extracted from the original data. The first and second factors accounted for 60.090% of the total variance, which means that P, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Sr, B, Na and Se may be the characteristic elements.

CONCLUSIONThe showed that element content in Flos Chrysanthemi Indici display special distributing diagram. Remarkable correlation is presented in some element pairs. The elements contents of Flos Chrysanthemi indici gained from Yunan, Hunan are higher than those from other regions.