Current status and prospects of the authentication of Angelica species

Medicinal plants resources are becoming important assets since their usages have been expanded to the de- velopment of functional foods for human health, natural cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. However, names are different from each country and their phylogenetic origins are not clear. These lead consumers to be confused. In particular, when they are morphologically similar and distributed as dried roots, it is extremely difficult to differentiate their origins even by specialists. Recently, molecular markers have been extensively applied to identify the origin of many crops. In this review, we tried to overview the current research achievements for the development of suitable 'origin identification' regarding to the differentiation of Angelica species. Furthermore, more advanced techniques including amplification genome based marker analyses are also discussed for their practical applications in the au- thentication of particular medicinal plant in Angelica species.