Objective: To establish a method to identify growing years of Paridis Rhizoma

in order to provide basis for quality control of this plant. Method: A total of 68 epidermises and xylems of taproot samples with seven different growing years of Paridis Rhizoma from the same origin was analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.The second derivative spectra and fourth derivative spectra of these tested samples were obtained by Omnic8.0 software.With the infrared spectra

the second derivative spectra and the fourth derivative spectra of epidermises and xylems of taproot samples ranging between 1 800 and 900 cm-1 as the sample characteristics

the discriminant model of growing years of Paridis Rhizoma was established by Mahalanbis distance gradual discriminant analysis method on the basis of Fisher linear discriminant criterion

in order to identify and compare these tested samples with unknown growing years. Result: The fourth derivative spectra had a better discrimination effect than other types of infrared spectra

while epidermises samples had a better discrimination effect than xylems samples.Moreover

the discriminant analysis model was established based on the fourth derivative spectra of epidermises to identify growing years of Paridis Rhizoma

with the return discriminant accuracy of training samples of 100%

the predicted accuracy of tested samples of 78.6% and a total accuracy of 95.6%. Conclusion: FTIR combined with gradual discriminant analysis can be utilized to identify growing years of Paridis Rhizoma and provide a new method for prediction of growing years of Paridis Rhizoma in the production practice.