Black Cohosh Laboratory Guidance Document Published by ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program

The extensively peer-reviewed black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Ranunculaceae) root and rhizome Laboratory Guidance Document (LGD), containing a review of macroscopic, microscopic, and chemical methods to authenticate black cohosh crude raw materials and extracts, was released in November 2015. The document contains a short summary of the chemical composition of black cohosh and its known adulterants, including, for example, Chinese and North American Actaea species (A. cimicifuga, A. cordifolia, A. dahurica, A. heracleifolia, A. pachypoda, A. podocarpa, A. rubra, and A. simplex).

As with the other LGDs, the main focus is on summarizing and evaluating publicly available analytical methods with respect to the suitability to authenticate black cohosh materials and to detect adulteration. These include macroscopic evaluation, botanical microscopy, chemical methods (e.g., high-performance thin-layer chromatography [HPTLC], high-performance liquid chromatography [HPLC] with various detection systems, flow-injection mass spectrometry [FIMS], and nuclear magnetic resonance [NMR]), and DNA-based methods.