Objective: A method of UPLC fingerprinting analysis was developed for the quality evaluation of crude drug of Polygonum cuspidatum. Method: The Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (2.1 mm×100 mm

1.7 μm) column was used. Acetonitrile and water containing 0.5% acetic acid were used as mobile phase of UPLC with gradient elution

monitored with the wavelength of 290 nm. Flow rate was set at 0.3 mL·min-1 and column temperature was 35 ℃. Thirty eight batches of P. cuspidatum samples collected from different areas and markets were analyzed for similarity analysis (SA)

hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principle component analysis (PCA). Result: The chromatographic fingerprint was completed with eleven recognizable peaks and four of them (polydatin

resveratrol

emodin

physcion) determined. Thirty eight batches of samples were classified as three clusters by HCA and PCA

and thirty six of them exhibited similarity more than 0.900 by similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprint of traditional Chinese medicine (2004B Version). Conclusion: The established method could rapidly attain the identification and quality evaluation of crude drug of P. cuspidatum.