Use of ITS DNA barcode for identification of Jewels of Opar (Talinum paniculatum) collected in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam

Jewels of Opar (Talinum paniculatum) is a herbaceous plant known for its highly medicinal value. This medicinal plant is listed in the Red List of Vietnam’s medicinal plants and in the handbook of Vietnam’s medicinal plants, both documents warranting its necessity for protection. Jewels of Opar contains bioactive substances such as phytosterols, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, and many other inorganic substances. Jewels of Opar plants collected in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, are tree-like herbs, their green trunks grows straight up and then branch out. The shapes of the leaves vary; they are generally oval or ovate-oblong in shape, with wavy veins. The flowers of this tree have five reddish purple wings, two sepals, more than ten stamens, and a spherical ovary. Both the fruits and their seeds are small and black. Tuberous roots are cylindrical with many small roots, and the tubers themselves are sweet and spicy. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region isolated from T. paniculatum plants in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam is 643 bp in length. Based on the nucleotide sequences of the ITS region and using the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) in theNational Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the Jewels of Opar samples collected in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam were determined to belong to T. paniculatum species, Talinumgenus, Portulacaceae.