HyoscyamiSemen,thematuredriedseedofHyoscyamusnigerL.,haslongbeenusedasatraditionalChinesemedicinetotreathumandiseases.HyoscyamiSemenisfoundinlocalmarketsinChina.Inmarkets,sellersandbuyerscommonlyinadvertentlymixtheseedsofH.nigerwiththeseedsofrelatedspeciessuchasHygrophilasalicifolia(Vahl)Nees,AstragaluscomplanatusR.Br.,CuscutaaustralisR.Br.,CuscutachinensisLam.,andImpatiensbalsaminaL.becauseoftheirsimilarmorphologiesorsimilarnames.Thus,developingareliablemethodfordiscriminatingH.nigerseedsfromitsadulterantsisnecessarytoreduceconfusionandensurethesafeuseofHyoscyamiSemen.Thepresentstudywasdesignedtoevaluatetheefficiencyofhigh-resolutionmeltinganalysiscombinedwithDNAbarcoding(Bar-HRM)withinternaltranscribedspacer2todiscriminateH.niger.OurresultsshowthatBar-HRMsuccessfullyidentifiedtheadulterantsanddetectedtheproportionofH.nigerDNAextractwithinanadmixture.Inparticular,HRMdetectedH.nigerDNAextractinA.complanatusDNAextractatconcentrationsaslowas1%.Inconclusion,theBar-HRMmethoddevelopedinthepresentstudyforauthenticatingH.nigerisrapidandcost-effective.ItcanbeusedinthefuturetoguaranteethepurityofHyoscyamiSemenfortheclinicaluse.
