Objective To conduct a pharamacognosical study on snow chrysanthemum (coreopsis tinctoria nutt.),and lay a theoretical foundation for its origin identification. Methods The properties, structure,and micro-characters of snow chrysanthemum powder were observed and described; the main components were analyzed, and finger-print was built with HPLC, aiming at analyzing snow chrysanthemum from property,microscopic,and physicochemical aspects. Results The macro-character and micro-characters of snow chrysanthemum are described as follows: the capitula of snow chrysanthemum is consistent with that of asteraceae species with two colors of the ray floret,yellow on the upper part,and purple brown in the middle of basal part. Powder under the microscope presents yellow spine spheroidal pollen grains, light yellow to brown red secretary canal scrap, papilla with simple cellular hair,basal part cell,and inner wall cells of pollen sac. The HPLC fingerprint was determined. Conclusion Snow chrysanthemum shares the common features with asteraceae species, and is different from Coreopsis lanceolate L,and Coreopsis grandiflora Hogg in the same genus. This study supplemented the gap in the pharacognosical study of snow chrysanthemum for origin identification.