Abstract
The Atractylodes lancea rhizome widely distributed in China is a natural medicine derived from Atractylodes lancea and Atractylodes chinensis in the aster family (Compositae) and is used as an ingredient of many kinds of Kampo medicines. Previously we reported on a componential analysis of the Atractylodes lancea rhizome material in various regions in China carried out by the MTA system, from which we obtained distances that made it possible to estimate characteristic differences, and by which we were able to estimate the longitude of specimens of unknown provenance or origin by an extrapolation formula. In this report, we attempt to solve problems in MTA analysis using north-south differences in latitude as a signal to estimate the latitude of Atractylodes lancea rhizome by using the Taguchi-Schmidt (TS) method and Taguchi (T) method,and estimate regions of distribution in China of Japanese Atractylodes lancea rhizome thought to derive from China. We also report results in which applying to presumption of Japanese Atractylodes lancea rhizome and hybrids between Atractorlodes lancea and Atractorlodes chinensis.
