The resource of rare and endangered medicinal plant Swertia mussotii Franch. in Tibet, Qinghai and Sichuan province were surveyed by ways of documents, interview, quadrat and market investigation. The results indi-cated that Swertia mussotii Franch. mainly distributed in Zuogong and Mangkang of Tibet, Yushu of Qinghai province, Shiqu, Daofu, Kangding, Maerkang, Jinchuan and Xiaojin of Sichuan province. According to the height above sea level, the distribution altitude was from 2 300 m (Kangding of Sichuan province) to 3 900 m (Mangkang of Tibet). There are distributions of Swertia mussotii Franch. within the scope of 2 600 m. The illumination, water, soil, temperature and altitude had significant influence on the distribution, growth and reserve of Swertia mussotii Franch. from different angles. In recent years, there was huge increase of market requirement in Swertia mussotii Franch. which were used in Tibetan medicine Zangyinc he n. Excess collection was the primary cause of rapid decreasing in resource of Swertia mussotii Franch.. It was suggested to strengthen the management of rational collection, as well as to accelerate the development of cultivation and production.

The resource of Sinopodophyllum emodi in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan province were surveyed by the ways of documents, interview, quadrat and market investigation. The results indicated that S. emodi were mainly distributed in central part from Taibai Shan of Shanxi province along the middle and high mountain on either side of Hengduan mountain which from north to south and in Tibetan plateau of China, the suitable eco-environment of S. emodi was dominated by valleys, wet forests and low bush-woods vegetation which comparatively dry on plateau with the altitude focused on 1 5004 500 meters, and the distribution density of simple alpine meadow was relatively lower. Illumination, water, soil, temperature and altitude had significant influences on the growth, distribution and reserves of S. emodi from different angles. In recent years, there was sharp increase of market requirement in Xiaoyelian (fruit) which were used in Tibetan medicine and the underground part which was used for the extraction of podophyllotoxin, excess collection of the underground part was the primary cause of the rapid decreasing resource of S. emodi. It is suggested that the management of rational collection should be strengthen and the development of culturing and production should be meanwhile accelerated.
Berberidaceae ; growth & development ; China ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; economics ; statistics & numerical data ; Endangered Species ; economics ; statistics & numerical data ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development

OBJECTIVETo determine the content of podophyllotoxin and total lignans in Sinopodophyllum emodi Ying from different areas and evaluate the resource utilization of this endangered medicinal plant.

METHODHPLC and UV spectrophotometry were used to determine the content of podophyllotoxin and total lignans in 126 samples from different habitats and the total lignans content was determined by the reference wavelength method.

RESULTAccording to the results, the highest content was determined from the samples from Yongdeng Nature Reserve in Gansu province, and the lowest ones was found in the samples from Tibet. The former's podophyllotoxin and total lignans contents were 7.40% and 20.66%, respectively, which were 19 times and 4 times more than those of the latter. The content of podophyllotoxin and total lignans in S. emodi were significantly positively related, meanwhile, samples from both low altitude and high latitude showed the higher content.

CONCLUSIONThe two determination methods are simple, rapid, accurate and repeatable. It is more scientific and rational to evaluate the resource utilization of S. emodi with two indicators, those are the content of podophyllotoxin and the content of total lignans. This paper is instructive to the collection of wild resources and the establishment of production bases.

Berberidaceae ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Lignans ; analysis ; Podophyllotoxin ; analysis ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Integrating textual criticism literatures with field survey, the name, classification and botanical originals of breeds of Tibetan medicine "Dida" were discussed in this paper. The results showed that it's very intricate and confusion in the names, breeds and botanical originals of "Dida", and those were the key restricting factors resulting in shortfall and difficult formulation in quality standard of "Dida". The similar situations are existing universally in ethnodrugs, and reflecting the necessity and urgency to collate ethnodrug breeds. On the other hand, Because of the morphologic description on the botanical origins of drug was often simple in the ancient literatures, and in most cases, the botanical origins of the drug were difficult to identify accurately on the basis of the literatures. So, in the collating the breeds, it's necessary to follow the principle of "according to the ancient literatures but no rigidly", and to pay attention to the historical vicissitude of the drug breeds and origins, and the survey of present resources and clinical using, draw actively on outcome of chemical and biological active researches. That inherited the characteristics and advantages of ethnodrugs, and promoted them them modernization.
Breeding ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine in Literature ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; history ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; Terminology as Topic ; Tibet

This study was aimed to make clear the origin and clinical applications of the Tibetan medicine "Bangga".Based on the systematical consultation of the Tibetan medical literature documents and the Chinese version,such as The King's Medicine,The Four Medical Tantras,Jing Zhu Materia Medica,the herbal textual research was made on the name,based source,origin and harvesting season,function,indication and etc.of Tibetan medicine "Bangga".The results showed that Tibetan medicine "Bangga" comes from the whole dried plant of Aconitum naviculare Stapf or A.tanguticum (Maxim) Stapf of Ranunculaceae plants.It was concluded that the research on the origin of Tibetan medicine "Bangga" can provide a basis for the application and promotion of quality standards of "Bangga".