Abstract:Explants of stems and leaves of Saussurea medusa Maxim. were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BA, 2 mg/L NAA, and from which factors, such as the media, plant hormones and culture temperature, as well as the addition of phenylalanine to the medium, that affect the callus growth, were investigated. The results showed that cells grew appropriately in MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L NAA at 25 ℃. Phenylalanine was not suitable for cell growth in solid culture but it increased flavonoid production. The calli could be distinguished by colour with naked eyes into two cell lines, a faint yellow (A) and a red coloured (B), representing respectively the different colour of metabolite accumulations. A sensitive and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic as well as a UV spectrophotometric method have been developed for detecting the flavonoids in cultured cells. It revealed that the A line contained 1.9% flavonoids and 0.42% jaceosidin, which was 2.5 times and 3.9 times more than B line; 2.6 and 4.2 times more than the initial callus cells respectively.