Pharmacognostical Study Of Caolian

Caolian is a crude drug which is derived from Coptis linearisepala T.Z.Wang et C.K. Hsieh. The officinal parts are rhizoma with leafstalks and laminaes. It is used as Coptis in Leibo and Mabian of Sichuan province, where are the proper growth regions of Caolian.C. linearisepala was first put forward as a new genus in 1980's. In this paper, the systematical Pharmacognostical study of Caolian is reported in order to offer some materials for authentication and classification.Original plants and medicinal materials are studied in morphological features. The foliage and rhizoma are investigated in inner structures and microscopic characters.RP-HPLC and UV methods are used for determining the contents of alkaloids. The results indicate, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, berberine and total alkaloids in foliage and rhizoma of Caolian are lower than those in rhizoma of Weilian.The comparison of the major alkaloids between Caolian and Weilian with TLC shows no gross difference, but the former hardly contain any epiberberine.eight protoberberine alkaloids were isolated and purified from Caolian. Seven from these are identified as follows: berberine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, columbamine, coptisine, worenin and groenlandicine.