BOTANICAL AND PHARMACOGNOSTICAL STUDIES OF CHINESE ARISTOLOCHIA: RESOURCE UTILIZATION

Aristolochia, an important medicinal plant genus, from which many Chinese herbal medicine have been derived. Ethnopharmacologically, they have been widely used in China as an antimicrobial, antiphlogistic, antidote, anodyne, and for the treatment of rheumatism, dysentery, gastroenteritis, snake-bite etc.Based on a countrywide survey, eighteen medicinal plant species have been studied in respect of their taxonomic identification and botanical distribution:By means of TLC and a polarographic method, the contents of total aristolochic acids in the roots or rhizomes of 18 Aristolochia medicinal species were estimated. The results showed that A. tuberosa, A. contorta, A. moupinensis, A. fordiana, A. mollis and A. hainanensis contained a higher percentage of total aristolochic acids, amounting to 0.4～1.1%, and A. tubiflora, A. kaempferi f. thibetica, A. debilis, A. tagala, A. fangchi, A. championii and A. kwangsiensis amounting to 0.25～0.36%, while the rest, A. mollissima, A. kaempferi f. heterophylla, A. austroszechuanica, A. versicolor and A. elegan, showed only very low content of aristolichic acids.The results obtained may be beneficial to the medicinal resource utilization of these plants.