<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>hello,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>For an accurae description see the MBG tropicos site Flora of China at the following url (direct for the taxon):</DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:mpwg@lists.plantconservation.org">mpwg@lists.plantconservation.org</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The confusion is grounded by the fact that Gentianine (a compound quite close to gentiopicroside) has been reported in the plant (Rakhmatullaev, T.U. 1971 Alakaloids from gentiana olgae, Gentiana vvedenskyi, Gentiana tanscianica (sic), and Swertia connata, Khim.pri. Soedin. 7:128</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The fact is that as far as tibetan medicine is concerned there is not such a thing as one name = one species. Over time and as the tibetan medical system extended over a huge territory, plus due to the fact that an oral tradition of teaching has always been part of the system, the tibetan doctors have adapted to different floras and developped alternative options for the plants they could not (or with difficulty) find in a given area. So "substitutes" so to call are a very common feature of the tibetan medicine pharmacopeia.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The current trend in scientification and the political situation are currently reducing this feature with the development in the official teachings of a one plant-one species reference corpus. The Men Tsee Khang current identifications are, thus, marked by the new localisation in India and tend to rely on indian himalyan or nepalese species (western himalayan), rather than tibetan and China authorities develop their own identifications (obivously derived from eastern himalayan species).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Regards</DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Elisabeth Dodinet</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">20 avenue de Longchamp</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">92 210 Saint-Cloud</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Tél/Fax: 01 47 71 16 09</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Portable: 06 11 89 98 93</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">E-mail: <A href="mailto:e.dodinet@wanadoo.fr">e.dodinet@wanadoo.fr</A></FONT></P> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>