Abstract
The Atractylodes Lanceae Rhizome used as an ingredient of Kampo medicines is a natural medicine derived from Atractylodes lancea and Atractylodes chinensis,two plants in the aster family (Compositae) widely distributed in China. The composition of these materials and the quantities of their components are known to differ from one region to another. In a previous study, the inverse matrix method was used to find regional differences in the componential characteristics of the Atractylodes Lanceae Rhizome. In the present study, a new MTA method capable of creating a unit space even in the presence of more than one factor with zero standard deviation was used to analyze the adjoint distances between specimens from sixteen locations in China. The results showed a different adjoint distance for each region, making it possible to use this distance as an index of geographical variation. If latitudinal and longitudinal differences measured from a reference region to the production regions are reduced to signals, then even when the production region of a specimen is unknown, the longitude of a production region having similar componential characteristics can be inferred from the adjoint distance.
