These studies were conducted to discriminate Cynanchum wilfordii, C. auriculatum, Metaplexis japonica, andPolygonum multiflorum by morphological characters. Cynanchum wilfordii, C. auriculatum, and Metaplexis japonica(Ascle-piadaceae) were easily distinguished from Polygonum multiflorum by twining stem to the left, producing opposite leaves,having laticiferous stems and leaves at cutting cross-sectionally, and lacking lignification of the stem. Four species had differ-ent morphological characters of flower. Comparing four species to fruit type, three species of Asclepiadaceae had follicle,while Polygonum multiflorum had achene with three wings. Follicle shape was lanceolate, narrowly lanceolate, and widelylanceolate in C. wilfordii, C. auriculatum, and Metaplexis japonica, respectively. Whereas seed color of four species was darkbrown similarly, seed shape and 1,000 seed weight were useful characters to discrimate between three species ofAsclepiadaceae and Polygonum multiflorum. Shape and color of root were thickened and yellowish brown in C. wilfordii andC. auriculatum. They were thin and long and white in Metaplexis japonica, and fusiform and reddish brown in Polygonummultiflorum. They would be useful characters to distinguish Cynanchum spp., Metaplexis japonica, and Polygonummultiflorum, however, impossible characters to discriminate between C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum.

This study was conducted to evaluate the allelopathic effect of aqueous extract of Ganghwa domestic mugwort (Artemisia spp.) on vegetables and its related allelochemicals. When the receptor vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, lettuce, and red radish, were treated with aqueous extract obtained from Sajabalssuk (A. sp*I), Ssajuarissuk (A. sp*II) or Ssajarissuk (A. sp*III), their germination rate, leaf number, plant height, and root length were restricted with increasing concentration of aqueous extract. Allelopathic effect was the highest in radish, than lettuce and Chinese cabbage in order. The growth of topplant were more inhibited then root growth observing in restriction of plant height, root length, and chlorophyll contents. The plant height, the root length of red radish were 53.3 and 61.2% and their fresh weights were 19.8 and 26.4% compared to those of controls, respectively. A. sp*III showed the highest allelopathic effect among the donor plants. In HPLC analysis, 7 phenol compounds were identified in A. sp*I and A. sp*II, and, in A. sp*III, and hydroxybenzoic acid and phenylacetic acid were further identified as allelochemicals. It is considered that their plant growths were variously inhibited by the amounts and types of allelochemicals in aqueous extracts. To increase the productivity of farm land after cultivation of mugwort, these results can be useful to select the following field crops.

This study has been conducted to establish the optimal extraction process and HPLC analysis method for thedetermination of marker compounds as a part of the materials standardization for the development of health functionalfood materials from Astragali radix. Five extraction conditions including the shaking extraction at room temperature andthe reflux extraction at 85℃ with 30%, 50% and 95% ethanol were evaluated. Reflux extraction with 50% ethanol showedthe highest extraction yield as 27.27±2.27%, while the extraction under reflux with 95% ethanol showed significantly thelowest yield of 10.55±0.24%. The quantitative determination methods of calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside and calycosin asmarker compounds of Astragali radix extracts were optimized by HPLC analysis using a Thermo Hypersil column(4.6×250㎜, 5㎛) with the gradient elution of water and acetonitrile as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.8mL min-¹and a detection wavelength of 230㎚. The HPLC/UV method was applied successfully to the quantification of two markercompounds in Astragali radix extracts after validation of the method with the linearity, accuracy and precision. The con-tents of calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside and calycosin in 50% ethanol extracts by reflux extraction were significantly higher as1,700.3±30.4 and 443.6±8.4㎍ g-1, respectively, comparing with those in other extracts. The results indicate that thereflux extraction with 50% ethanol at 85℃ is optimal for the extraction of Astragali radix, and the established HPLCmethod are very useful for the evaluation of marker compounds in Astragali radix extracts to develop the health functionalmaterial from Astragali radix.

This study was conducted to obtain the basic data for using the Artemisia anuua as a new economic crop,thus Artemisia anuua was investigated their cultivation characteristics, yield, and variation of artemisinin contents by plantingdensity and harvesting times. Seed characteristics of A. anuua have observed micro-size, and their germination optimumtemperature was at 15 to 20 celsius degree. Planting density on the yield of A. anuua was increased high density better thanlow density. The highest yield was planted in the space of 30×10㎝. Moreover, optimum harvesting time of A. anuua wasinvestigated in early september and a periods of most highly detected artemisinin was time of before and after bloomingof A. anuua.Key Words : Art