ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To establish the quality standard of Clinopodium gracile. METHODS Ten batches of C. gracile were collected to perform appearance and property identification， microscopic identification and thin layer chromatography （TLC） identification. Moisture， total ash， acid-insoluble ash and dilute ethanol extract were detected， and the content of rosmarinic acid was determined by HPLC. RESULTS The stem of C. gracile was slender， square columnar， covered by white fluff， the surface was grayish green or greenish brown； epidermal cells， non-glandular hairs， cortical cells and so on were seen in the cross section of the stem. Non-glandular hairs， ducts， wood fibers， mesophyll cells and so on could be seen in the powder. Results of TLC identification showed that there were spots of the same color in the chromatographic position corresponding to the chromatographic position of buddlejasaponin Ⅳb control. The contents of water， total ash， acid-insoluble ash， dilute ethanol extract and rosmarinic acid in 10 batches of samples were 8.69%-12.33%， 5.96%-13.33%， 0.14%-3.29%， 18.57%-32.61%， 0.35%-0.82%， respectively. The average values were 10.10%， 9.73%， 1.06%， 23.54% and 0.56%， respectively. CONCLUSIONS The established method can be used for quality control of C. gracile. It is preliminarily proposed that the ash content in the herb should not exceed 12.0%， the total ash content should not exceed 12.0%， the acid-insoluble ash content should not exceed 1.5%， the dilute ethanol extract should not be less than 18.0%， and the rosmarinic acid content should not be less than 0.45%.