Abstract: Aim The several species of the genus Paris called “Chonglou” are famous traditional Chinese herbal medicines. We established the quantitative analysis method of the steroidal saponins in some species of the genus Paris and discussed their relations. Methods We detected the contents of 11 steroidal saponins in Paris samples with a Kromasel C18 (150 mm×4.6 mm ID, 5 μm) column which was subjected to gradient elution with acetonitrile-water (30:70-60:40, V/V) at a flow rate of 1 mL·min^-1 by HPLC-ELSD and established chemical cluster tree using SPSS 11 software. Results All the samples could be separated and calibration curves of 11 saponins were prepared. We successfully detected the contents of 11 steroidal saponins in 14 Paris spp. in 30 min. The recovery for the assay of saponins was between 95% and 97%. The RSD of precision of 11 saponins and stability of samples were below 3%. Chemical phylogenetic tree based on saponin contents indicated that 17 samples of Paris spp. clustered separately. Conclusion The established method is accurate and convenient, and suitable for the quantitative analysis of these 11 steroidal saponins in Paris spp.. The chemical phylogenetic tree is in accordance with Takhtajian classical taxonomy.

Key words: Paris, Paris, steroidal saponin, steroidal saponin, cluster analysis, cluster analysis, HPLC-ELSD, HPLC-ELSD