Studies On The Botanical Origins And Qualities Of Medicinal Litsea Lam

Through studying on the ancient herbal documents, we found that the fruits of Litsea Lam had been used as "Bichengqie" instead of Piper cubeba before the Tang Dynasty, henceforth, Litsea cubeba was included in pharmacopoeia as a substite for imported Bichengqie .A survey of the botanical resource shows that 6 species with accurat effects are widely dispersed over Sichuan province, including Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers., L. mollis Hemsl., L. pungens Hemsl., L. populifolia (Hemsl.) Gamble, L.veitchiana Gamble and L. coreana L vl. var. lanuginose.By making a systematic study on botanical and morpholigical to the 6 species, a few characteristics have been summarized for identification. With the method of tissue clearing and scanning electron microscope, the characteristic of oil cell of leaves and the micromorpholocal characteristic of fruit surface were found to be quite well differentiated and to have taxonomic value.By investigating the source of Fructus Listeae in Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan province, we found that the fruits of L. mollis Hemsl are the main current species.To identificate the different varieties and strains of L. cubeba (Lour.) Pers. and L. mollis Hemsl, a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed for the first time. The screening of 40 decameroligonucleotides allowed the selection of 11 primers used for the analysis, the DNA fingerprints of 10 samples were constituted and the genetics evidence was furnished.To study on the contents and chemical constituents of essential oil from leaves and fruits of different species of Litsea Lam, the chemical compositions were separated and identified by GC/MS. The relative contents in the essential oil were determined by area nomalization. 97 chemical constituents were separated and identified representing 90% of the total contents. The major chemical constituents in the oil from the leaves of L. populifolia (Hemsl.) Gamble are linalool and 1,8-cinceole, and that of L. cubeba (Lour.) Pers.are ocimene, 3,7-dimethyl-l,6-octadien-3-ol and nerolidol, that of L mollis Hemsl, L. pungens Hemsl and L.veitchiana are 1,8-cinceole, that of L. coreana L vl. var. lanuginose is decanoic acid. The chemical constituents in the oil from leaves of different species are significantly different from each other. However, L. cubeba (Lour.) Pers. and L. mollis Hemsl are similar in the major chemical constituents in their oil of fruits, the major constituents are citral, limonene, pinene, camphene and linalool. Which showed that the 2 species are similar in quality.In order to make a comprehensive evaluation on the qualities of the species, we studied antimicrobial effects of above-mentioned oil in vitro. All oil samples showed remarkable antimicrobial activity against the tested strains, 3 fruit oil of which (Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers., L, mollis Hemsl and L. populifolia (Hemsl.)) show strong antibacterial and antifungal antivity; 3 leaf oil of which (Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers.,, L. pungens Hemsl., L. populifolia (Hemsl.) Gamble) had a manifest antibacterial activity; 3 leaf oil of which (Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers., L. pungens Hemsl. and L. coreana L vl. var.lanuginose)had a manifest antifungal activity.