Abstract
Chinese medicines (CMs) are being used more and more widely throughout the world.
Since there are many poisoning incidents caused by misuse or confusion of CMs, their
safe use has become a critical issue internationally. In this paper, based on the
investigation of the current market of CMs, reasons for various confusions of Chinese
Materia Medica (CMM) are analyzed and clarified, such as herbs with multiple sources,
regional custom-herbs, confusion in nomenclature, similarity in appearance, and complexity
of processed products. Authentication of plant material is critical to the safe and
effective use of CMM. In this paper, several authentication methods, such as taxonomy,
morphology, microscopy, physical and chemical authentication, DNA molecular biology
and their advanced applications in this area, are introduced. Furthermore, it is proposed
that an authority on the authentication of CMM be established, as a physical institution
and/or as an electronic database.
Key words
Authentication - identification - Chinese medicines - herbal medicines - standardization
