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Background: Swertia nervosa (Wall. ex G. Don) C. B. Clarke, a promising traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of liver disorders, is endangered due to its extensive collection and unsustainable harvesting practices. Objective: The aim of this study is to discuss the diversity of metabolites (loganic acid, sweroside, swertiamarin, and gentiopicroside) at different growth stages and organs of Swertia nervosa using the ultra-high-performance LC (UPLC)/UV coupled with chemometric method. Methods: UPLC data, UV data, and data fusion were treated separately to find more useful information by partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), an unsupervised method, was then employed for validating the results from PLS-DA. Results: Three strategies displayed different chemical information associated with the sample discrimination. UV information mainly contributed to the classification of different organs; UPLC information was prominently responsible for both organs and growth periods; the data fusion did not perform with apparent superiority compared with single data analysis, although it provided useful information to differentiate leaves that could not be recognized by UPLC. The quantification result showed that the content of swertiamarin was the highest compared with the other three metabolites, especially in leaves at the rooted stage (19.57 ± 5.34 mg/g). Therefore, we speculated that interactive transformations occurred among these four metabolites, facilitated by root formation. Conclusions: This work will contribute to exploitation of bioactive compounds of S. nervosa, as well as its large-scale propagation. Highlights: The roots formation may influence the distribution and accumulation of metabolites.

Objective The present report embodies detailed diagnostic features of five important Red listed Swertia species for easy and authentic identification along with HPTLC fingerprinting using the c-glucoxanthone mangiferin as a biomarker. The key objectives of this study were to reduce indiscriminate harvesting of different Swertia species from its natural habitat and the development of a reliable kit based on HPTLC fingerprinting to reduce adulteration in commercial trade. Methods Chromatography was performed on Silica gel 60 F254 TLC plates with ethyl acetate-glacial acetic acid-formic acid- water- 100:11.0:11.0:26 as mobile phase. Densitometric measurement was performed at λ=254 nm. The method was found to be simple, reliable, precise and convenient for routine analysis. Results Although mangiferin was detected in substantial amount from all populations of Swertia chirata irrespective of their geographical locations and to a lesser degree in Swertia nervosa, the biomarker was totally absent in Swertia bimaculata, Swertia dilatata and Swertia paniculata. Conclusions Floral morphology can be effectively used for the construction of an easy identification tool that can be utilized at the field level to screen out Swertia chirata from other closely related species that flower at the same time along with Swertia chirata. High Performance TLC using mangiferin as a biomarker can be utilized for quality screening and checking adulteration among different species and populations of Swertia.