Distinguishing Genuine and Counterfeit Ba Da Hai Seeds: A Microscopic Approach

【Introduction to Medicinal Materials】:

Ba Da Hai is the dried mature seed of the plant Ba Da Hai in the Malvaceae family. Its counterfeit is often the mature seed of the plant Yuan Li Ping Po in the Malvaceae family.

【Appearance Identification】:

Genuine seeds are silent when shaken by hand, while counterfeit seeds make noise. Genuine seeds are oval or angular in shape, slightly pointed at both ends, resembling olives. The surface is slightly shiny with irregular dry wrinkles. When soaked in water, they quickly expand to 6-8 times their original volume. On the other hand, the seeds of Yuan Li Ping Po are round in shape, with a glossy surface and denser wrinkles. They expand more slowly in water, to 3-4 times their original volume. The main difference lies in the volume of expansion.

【Microscopic Identification】:

(1) Take several seeds of the product and place them in a beaker, add boiling water in an appropriate amount, and let it sit for a few minutes until they absorb water and expand into brownish translucent sponge-like material.

(2) Take 0.2g of the powder of the product, add 10ml of water, heat in a water bath for 30 minutes, and filter. Take 4ml of the filtrate, add 3ml of sodium hydroxide solution, and 5ml of alkaline copper tartrate solution, heat in a water bath, and a red precipitate will form (checking for sugars).

(3) Thin-layer chromatography:
① Take 5g of the seed coat of Ba Da Hai, add 100ml of water, boil for 15 minutes, filter out the swollen Bas-sorin, transfer it to a 200ml round-bottom flask, add 5% sulfuric acid, reflux in a boiling water bath for 1 hour, filter, and concentrate the filtrate to about 5ml after neutralization with 10% sodium hydroxide, add 20ml of ethanol, mix well, filter, and use as a test solution. Use lactose and arabinose as control substances. Spot the samples and the control substances on a silica gel G-4% sodium borate thin-layer plate, develop with n-butanol-acetone-water (4:5:1) for 18cm, spray with a mixture of aniline, diphenylamine, and phosphoric acid (4:4:20), bake at 80°C for 10 minutes. The chromatogram of the test substance shows the same spots as the chromatogram of the control substances at the corresponding positions.
② Take 100g of the sample powder, place it in a Soxhlet extractor, extract the total oil with petroleum ether, take 2g of the oil, add 80ml of 0.5mol/L potassium hydroxide ethanol solution, saponify to obtain the total fatty acids. Methylate with a 2% concentrated sulfuric acid-methanol solution (1:5) refluxed for 2 hours, to obtain the total fatty acid methyl esters, use as the test substance. Use oleic acid methyl ester, linoleic acid methyl ester, linolenic acid methyl ester, and palmitic acid methyl ester as control substances. Spot the samples and the control substances on a silica gel G-10% AgNO3 (3:10) thin-layer plate, develop with benzene for 18cm, spray with a 0.2% solution of 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein in ethanol, and place under a UV lamp (254nm). The chromatogram of the test substance shows the same yellow spots as the chromatogram of the control substances at the corresponding positions.