Comparative Analysis of Morphological Characteristics and Effective Components of Domestic Codonopsis Plants

Background: Among the Codonopsis plants, C. lanceolata and C. pilosula are cultivated for edible and medicinal purposes. But basic agronomic data of C. ussuriensis are required for domestic cultivation. This study aimed to compare the agronomic characteristics of the three Codonopsis species for cultivation.BRMethods and Results: The three Codonopsis species were cultivated in the same field and their agronomic characteristics were compared. C. ussuriensis demonstrated similar morphological characteristics to C. pilosula, such as hairless stems and leaves, stem color, wingless seeds, and root weight. However, the shape and size of the leaf and the color of the corolla are intermediate between C. lanceolata and C. pilosula. However, all three species showed different root shapes and seed sizes and weights. In terms of phytochemical components, the main components of C. lanceolata and C. pilosula were tangshenoside I and lobetyolin, while C. ussuriensis was ussurienoside I. Moreover, all components demonstrated high content with increasing annual age.BRConclusions: This study demonstrated different agronomic characteristics of C. ussuriensis compared to C. lanceolata and C. pilosula, and the results are valuable as basic data for cultivating C. ussuriensis.