ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the correlation between morphological variation and gentiopicroside content in cultivated Gentiana manshurica roots and to investigate the feasibility of breeding new varieties of high effective constituent content.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Gentiopicroside was determined in 5 morphological types of cultivated G. manshurica roots by HPLC, which are normal (or wild) type, white-flowered type, thick-rooted type, broad-leaved type I and broad-leaved type II.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Among different types gentiopicroside content is the highest in the roots of thick-rooted type, the contents decrease as following order: normal type, broad-leaved type I white-flowered type and broad-leaved type II, and the gentiopicroside contents in the same type root system are a positive correlation with root ages, as 3-years-age roots > 2-years-age roots > 1-year-age varied with roots.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The contents of effective constituent vary with the morphological variation in cultivated G. manshurica. It is feasible to breed a new variety with high effective constituent with the morphological character as a selecting index.</p>