淫羊藿属是分类学上难以处理的类群，种内变异广泛，种间界限模糊不清，属下分类和种的界定十分困难，存在诸多存疑种和存疑复合种。本课题组经过十余年研究、思考和总结，发现其根本原因是大多数物种缺乏广泛深入的性状调查，如近半数物种的命名是依据少量异国栽培植株。本项目拟在前期工作基础上，基于"居群"概念，抓住物种由间断居群组成的本质，以覆盖疑难类群分布区的广泛居群为研究对象，结合标本室观测、野外居群调查（含形态性状和生态环境因子）、同园栽培性状对比研究和HPLC指纹图谱分析，深入调查其性状变异幅度和变异式样，分析其分类价值，探讨变异与相关生态环境的联系，揭示物种的分化、形成和进化历程,完善其分类学修订,提出淫羊藿属自然的属下分类系统,并利用国际分类学描述信息处理工具DELTA (Description Language for Taxonomy) 进行描述，为重要中药资源和园艺种质资源的利用提供依据。

Epimedium L. is a group with more than 50 species that taxonomically difficult and controversial. Due to the wide range of intra-specific variation and overlapping between inter-species, the morphological taxonomical identification is confusing and there are many insufficient know species and/or species complex. After careful thought and more than a decade of research, we found that the lacking of extensive investigation and substantial evidence is the fundamental cause. Nearly half the species were described from a small number of cultivated individuals that brought to foreign countries (eg. England, America and Japan) from China. Based on the previous research works of this project and on the concept of "population", it is the most important to seize the essence of species, namely, the species is composed of some discontinuous populations. Therefore, extensive populations that cover the geographic distribution of the species will be investigated, sampled and common garden cultivated. Combined with the field population survey (including morphological characters and ecological environmental factors), characters observation of specimen and cultivated populations, and analysis of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint spectrum, it will not only help to understand 1) the range of variation, variation patterns and taxonomic values, 2) the relationship between morphological variation and ecological environment, and 3) the evolution of species and subsequent speciation, but also help to improve the taxonomic revision and to propose a reasonable classification system. And use the DELTA (description language for taxonomy) system, a computer information processing tool for taxonomic description, which is designated as the international data exchage standard by the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases, the natural-language descriptions producing, interactive identification and classification information management of Epimedium will be achieved. These results will be benefit for the utilization of the important resources of Chinese medicinal materials and ornamental horticulture.