To establish the fingerprints of Plantaginis Herba.

The fingerprints were determined by UPLC. The peak areas of fingerprints of different parts and origins were analyzed by variance analysis and independent sample t-test. PCA, HCA, PLS-DA and other chemical patterns were analyzed by Simca14.1. The index weight was calculated by CRITIC, and the quality of plantain evaluation was combined with grey correlation degree.

The fingerprints of grass, stem, leaf and spike of Plantago depressa Willd. calibrated for 24, 16, 23 and 22 common peaks. The fingerprints of grass, stem, leaf and spike of Plantaginis Herba calibrated for 22, 10, 16 and 22 common peaks, and the fingerprints of commercial mixed plantain calibrated for 23 common peaks. 10 peaks were identified. The analysis of variance showed that there were differences in chromatographic peak areas between different parts of Plantago asiatica L. and Plantago depressa Willd.. And combinedede with PLS-DA, it showed that there were 16 important characteristic indexes in the classification, and the importance ranking was peak 3, 8, 28, 12, 14, 7, 5, 17, 6, 19, 23, 11, 22, 27, 9, 16. The quality evaluation results of critical method combined with grey correlation degree showed that among Plantago depressa Willd., Plantago asiatica L. and commercial mixed plantain herbs, the quality of Plantago asiatica L. was the best.

The mixture of plantain exists in the market. The fingerprints established in this study can be used for the identification and quality evaluation of Plantaginis Herba from different sources.

Plantaiginis Herba; Fingerprint; Traditional Chinese drug identification; Critical method; Grey correlation degree