Abstract:It was focused on setting a effective way for tracing the producing area of Zanthoxylum in this study, by using infrared fingerprints. The methods of dual-indexes and cluster had been applied to analyze the infrared fingerprints so as to investigate similarity of 17 samples. Moreover, the relationship between the producing area and prime substances in Z. bungeanum Maxim. has been researched by analyzing second derivative of the infrared fingerprints of Z. bungeanum Maxim. The infrared spectras of Zanthoxylum had the similar characteristic peaks, but there were still some differences in the number and intensity of the absorption peaks in the range of fingerprint region 3 500~2 800 cm-1 and 1 700~1 000 cm-1. The degree of similarity of 17 samples were accurate when used sequential analysis of dual-indexes. The peak heights of infrared fingerprints after reckoned second derivative were used to cluster analysis by SPSS 22.0, and 17 samples were divided into five categories, obviously. In this study, a simple and convenient method for identification of Zanthoxylum was explored.