Characters of nrDNA ITS region sequences of fruits of Alpinia galanga and their adulterants

The fruits of Alpinio galanga (L.) Sw. are used as a traditional Chinese me dicine; but the dry fruits of A. conchigera, A. suishaensis, A. maclurei an d A. polyantha are also used as the medicine in local areas. Because dry fr uits of these related plants are similar to those of Alpinia galanga (L.) S w. in odor, morphological characters and chemical components, and even anat omical characters, it is difficult to identify the medicine. Nuclear riboso mal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the five taxa were dir ectly sequenced using an automated sequencer. Sequence analysis showed that the ITS 1 ranges from 177 to 178 base pairs (bp), and the ITS 2 from 225 t o 234 bp. The size of the 5.85 coding region is 164 bp for all species. Als o, the pairwise sequence divergence is higher and some molecular markers we re determined. According to these molecular markers, Alpinia galanga (L.) S w. and the related species can easily be distinguished from each other. The refore, evidence from nrDNA ITS sequence variation can identify the medicin e at the DNA level.