Objective: To establish a method for analysis of Penthorum chinense flos by HPLC fingerprint and compare the fingerprints of caulis

folium and flos

and to seek ways to the quality assessment and quality control of different parts of P. chinense. Method: The analysis was performed on an ODS column with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid as mobile phase in gradient elution mode. The flow rate was 0.8 mL · min-1

the column temperature was 30 ℃ and the injection volume was 10 μL with the detection wavelength of 280 nm. Result: Fifteen common peaks were separated on HPLC fingerprint of the flos of P. chinense

including the fifth peak of rutin peak

the ninth peak of quercetin peaks. The similarities of 10 batches of samples were in the range of 0.925-0.960.When the flos of P. chinense was compared with caulis and folium

we found that flos has the most common peaks and caulis has the least. Besides

significant variability was found among the caulis

folium and flos

the contents of marker peak in the flos were more than that in the caulis and folium. Conclusion: The method showed good accuracy

validity and reproducibility characteristics and provided information for the quality assessment and quality control of different parts of P. chinense. To ensure the quality of Chinese medicine

it is recommended that P. chinense should be harvested during florescence.