Objective  To identify easily confused Chinese herbal pieces by micro-macroscopical identification method, and study its application value in quality acceptance of Chinese herbal pieces in medical institutions.

Methods  Using the method of micro-macroscopical identification, with the help of related instruments, the microscopic characteristics of 10 groups of 31 kinds of Chinese herbal pieces, which were easy to be confused and could not be observed by naked eye and ordinary magnifying glass, were analyzed and summarized according to the classification of different medicinal parts, such as flowers, fruits, seeds, whole grass, roots and rhizomes, stems, and others, and pictures were taken to save them.

Results  The micro-characters of 10 groups of 31 easily confused Chinese herbal medicines, including Eriocauli flos, Eriocaulon sexangulare, Eriocaulon australe, Aurantii fructus, Citrus changshan-huyou, Chaenomelis fructus, Chaenomeles cathayensis, Perillae fructus, Perillae fructus (Physalis alba), Perillae fructus (Wild), Astragali complanati semen, Astragalus chinensis, Selaginellae herba, Selaginella pulvinata, Selaginella moellendorfii, Selaginella doederleinii, Selaginella uncinata, Lysimachiae herba, Lysimachia hemsleyana, Desmodium styracifolium, Dryopteris crassirhizoma, Woodwardia japonica, Brainea insignis, root of Valvate actinidia, Actinidia arguta, Tripterygium wilfordii, root of Romanet grape, Trogopterus dung, Bat dung, Hare dung and Silkworm sand were observed. The various traditional Chinese medicines possessed unique identification characteristics. Flower-based medicines could be studied for their color, tissue structure, and surface features such as texture and trichomes. Fruit-based medicines could be studied for their fruit peel structure, color, degree of development, and outer characteristics such as cuticle layer and wax. Seed-based medicines could be studied for their morphology, size, color, and texture. Whole plant-based medicines could be studied for leaf length-to-width ratio, widest point, surface characteristics, and splitting situation, as well as stem trichomes and stomata. Root-based medicines, rhizome-based medicines, and stem-based medicines could be studied for their bark, wood structure, and the morphology and arrangement of vascular bundles or ducts. Other kinds of medicines could be studied from their sources, and these unique micro-characteristic identification features could be easily discovered with the help of a microscope.

Conclusion  Compared with the traditional characteristic identification, micro-macroscopical identification is more capable of improving the accuracy of Chinese herbal pieces identification, which is economical, practical, simple and intuitive, and can be popularized as a commonly used identification method of herbal medicines in medical institutions, and it is a feasible solution to realize the rapid inspection of herbal medicines.

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