How to distinguish the authenticity of Panax notoginseng powder

Everyone knows that Panax notoginseng powder can prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and regular consumption has the health-promoting effect of replenishing qi and blood. Many people buy Panax notoginseng powder and cook some soups at home to nourish their bodies, but Panax notoginseng powder may also be counterfeited by others. If people buy counterfeits, it will not only cause no effect on their health but may also aggravate their symptoms. So how to distinguish the authenticity of Panax notoginseng powder?

1. The powder of this product is grayish yellow. There are many starch granules, single granules are round, semicircular or polygonal, with a diameter of 4 to 30 microns; compound granules are composed of 2 to more than 10 sub-granules. Resin duct fragments contain yellow secretions. The diameters of ladder patterns, reticulated patterns and spiral ducts are 15 to 55 microns. Calcium oxalate clusters are rare, with a diameter of 50 to 80 microns.

2. Take 2 grams of powder, add 15 ml of methanol, soak at warm temperature for 30 minutes (or soak at cold temperature and shake for 1 hour), and filter. Take 1 ml of the filtrate, evaporate it to dryness, add 1 ml of acetic anhydride and 1-2 drops of sulfuric acid, it will turn yellow and gradually change to red, purple, cyan, and dirty green; take another few drops of the filtrate, apply it on the filter, after it is dry, observe it under ultraviolet light (365 nm), it will show light blue fluorescence, add 1 drop each of acetone solution saturated with boric acid and 10% citric acid solution, after it is dry, observe it under ultraviolet light, it will have strong yellow-green fluorescence.

3. Take 0.5 g of the powder, add about 5 drops of water, stir well, then add 5 ml of water-saturated n-butanol, seal, shake for about 10 minutes, let stand for 2 hours, centrifuge, take the supernatant, add 3 times the amount of water saturated with n-butanol, shake well, let stand to separate (centrifuge if necessary), take the n-butanol layer, put it in an evaporating dish, evaporate to dryness, add 1 ml of methanol to the residue to dissolve it, and use it as the test solution. Take ginsenoside Rb1, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rg1 and notoginsenoside R1 reference substances, add methanol to prepare a mixed solution containing 1 mg of each substance per 1 ml, as the reference substance solution.