Object The influence of producing area and plant age on oxymatrine levels in the dried root of Sophora flavescens Ait. has been investigated to provide useful information to optimize the areas for mass scale propagation, proper management and species conservation. Methods The oxymatrine was quantified by HPLC and various statistical treatments were carried out following SPSS 9.0 and Microsoft Excel. Results The oxymatrine concentrations in the root samples collected from 17 provinces and regions differed from 0.494% to 4.127% and the maximum oxymatrine content (3.493%) was recorded in the root sample collected from Heilongjiang Province. Analysis of variance indicates a highly significant difference in the oxymatrine content of roots collected from different provinces, and the samples from the cold arid northern high-latitude areas had higher oxymatrine than those from warm humid southern low-latitude areas in the mainland China. Plant age is positively related to the total root biomass and oxymatrine content. Conclusion The oxymatrine content in the roots of S. flavescens is quite different between different areas and plant ages. The S. flavescens growing in the cold arid northern high-latitude areas had higher oxymatrine concentration.

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