Abstract
"Ga Si O Gal Pi" is one of the Korean crude drugs used mainly to cure arthritis, acute gastritis, and beriberi. With regard to the botanical origin of "Ga Si O Gal Pi", it has been considered to be Acanthopanax species of Araliaceae, but there was no pharmacognostical confirmation on it. To clarify the botanical origin of "Ga Si O Gal Pi", the anatomical characteristics of the branch of Acanthopanax species growing wild in Korea and Japan, A. chiisanensis, A. divaricatus, A. koreanum, A. rufinerve, A. senticosus, A. seoulense, A. sessiliflorus, A. sieboldiaum were studied. As a result, it was clarified that "Ga Si O Gal Pi" was the branch and rarely the bark of branch of Acanthopanax senticosus.
