title: [Morphological and histological studies of Herpetospermum pedunculosum seeds and other substitutes].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide new evidences for the identification of Herpetospermum pedunculosum seeds and other substitutes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Microscopic examination of the cross sections and powers of the seeds of H. pedunculosum, Momordica charantia, Thladiantha setispina and M. cohinchinensis were made to characterize the drug materials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The external and internal structure of T. setispina and M. charantia were studied for the first time. Two types of different branched starry sclereids was found in M. cohinchinensis. Comparative studies on external and internal structure were carried out on seeds of the 4 species. As a result, they could be distinguished by external characteristics such as shape, size and color of their seeds, and by internal structure such as size and type of sclereid, epidermis and sub-epidermis cell of seed coat.
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China. lilongyun8@163.com
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Long-Yun
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Ying-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Guo-Yue
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Jun-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D019662:Cucurbitaceae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004340:Drug Contamination; D008853:Microscopy; D029775:Momordica / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011208:Powders; D012639:Seeds / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
chemical_list: D011208:Powders