A high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detector-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/UV/ESI/MSn) method was used for the chromatographic fingerprint analysis of Gardenia jasminoides fruit, Fructus Gardeniae (zhi-zi in Chinese). Thirteen batches of samples collected from 8 provinces were analyzed to standardize the fingerprint of zhi-zi. The thirteen peaks in the fingerprints of all the 13 batches of samples with reasonable height and good resolution were assigned as “characteristic peaks”. Seven “characteristic peaks” were identified by comparing their retention time and MS (mass spectrum) with those of the reference substances for the first time. The Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine software was used to evaluate the similarities among the 13 batches of zhi-zi samples. The results indicated that samples from different origins had similar HPLC fingerprint and the method could be applied for the quality control of zhi-zi. In addition, the fingerprint can be used to analyze the differences of zhi-zi samples with different harvest time and different parts of Gardenia jasminoides including calyx, root, fruit (zhi-zi), leaf and stem. The results revealed that the chemical compounds in some
samples picked in November varied significantly from samples in September and October. The content of geniposide in zhi-zi picked in September and October was much higher than that picked in November. Calyx, leaf, stem and root of Gardenia jasminoides had similar chemical components that were significantly different from those of zhi-zi.