ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the content variation of triptolide in medicinal material of Tripterygium and provide theoretical basis for the hereditary improvement, the gathering and process, the quality evaluation and the provenance division in medicinal material of Tripterygium.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>HPLC method was used to determine the content of triptolide.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The relations between triptolide and germplasm, growth year, gathering season were found out basically.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The triptolide contents in xylem are affected by hereditary factors remarkably. While the triptolide contents in phloem are not affected obviously. The accumulation of triptolide needs the certain growth years. However when growth is beyond certain years, the triptolide content decreases with the disintegration of secondary metabolism in xylem. The triptolide in xylem is highest in winter and decreasing in growing season. The triptolide in phloem is less affected by the season.</p>