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The flower buds of five <i>Lonicera</i> species, <i>Lonicera japonica</i> Thunb., <i>L. macranthoides</i> Hand.-Mazz., <i>L. hypoglauca</i> Miq., <i>L. confusa</i> DC. and <i>L. fulvotomentosa</i> Hsu et S.C. Cheng are confusable and usually utilized under the same name “Jinyinhua” in different areas for morphological similarity. Studies found that these five species possess extreme differences in chemical compounds, correspondingly showing different pharmacological activities and clinical applications. To ensure efficacy and safety of these herbal medicines and prevent unknown adverse effect, in this work, a simple, rapid and effective method combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy was developed for authentication. Surface slides and transverse sections of these buds were investigated to reveal their differences. As a routine technique, normal light microscopy which gives detailed microscopic features such as glandular hairs and nonglandular hairs, can easily distinguish four species except <i>L. confusa</i>. Fluorescence technique, which could present different distribution of fluorescence materials, is further employed to identify three species including <i>L. confusa</i> successfully. It is the first report to identify these five <i>Lonicera</i> species by combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy. This work indicated combining normal light and fluorescence microscopy could be a powerful method in authentication of confused species. Microsc. Res. Tech.74:133-141, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Dried herb of Delphinium brunonianum Royle (Ranunculaceae) has long been used under the herbal name "Xiaguobei" (Delphinii Brunoniani Herba) in traditional Tibetan medicine and prescribed for the treatment of influenza, itchy skin rash and snake bites. In order to find a useful and convenient method for the identification of microscopic features, the technique of fluorescence microscopy was applied to authenticate "Xiaguobei" of Tibet. The transverse sections of stem and leaf, as well as the powder of "Xiaguobei" were observed to seek for typical microscopic features by normal light and fluorescence microscopy. A style-like, single-cell glandular hair containing yellow secretions on the leaf, young stem and sepal of "Xiaguobei" was found. Under the fluorescence microscope, the xylem and pericycle fiber group emitted significant fluorescence. This work indicated that fluorescence microscopy could be an useful additional method for the authentication work. Without the traditional dyeing methods, the main microscopic features could be easily found by fluorescence microscopy. The results provided reliable references for the authentication of "Xiaguobei".