RESUMEN
Objective: To explore the effect of different amounts of branches on medicinal quality of T. chinense. Methods: Wild T. chinense taken from Jurong, Guli, and Maoshan was used as experimental materials. T. Chinense was divided into five levels according to the number of branches. The first level has 1-3 branches, 4-6 branches as second. The third level has 7-9 branches, 10-20 branches as fourth, and the fifth level has 20 or more branches. Quality of T. chinense was measured by growth indicators and effective components. Results: The quality of T. chinense in different levels was significantly different. The difference of dry weight of T. chinense could be up to 25 times, fifth level was 5.710 6 g, but the first level was only 0.224 5 g. The content of effective components and branch number were negatively correlated, flavonoids and kaempferol contents of T. chinense in level 1 were significantly higher than those in other levels which were 4.02% and 3.38 mg/g. In different branches levels of T. chinense, there was a significant positive correlation between flavonoids and kaempferol contents, but there was a significant negative correlation between kaempferol content and root crude of T. chinense. Conclusion: The number of T. chinense branches has a great impact on its quality, the more branches, the higher yield, and the lower content of active ingredient.