This study was carried out to differentiate the origins of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge and A. membranaceus Bunge var. mogholicus Nakai. To identify the variation of the RAPD patterns between domestic and foreign Astragalus species, 40 random primers were applied to ten accessions of A. membranaceus and six accessions of A. membranaceus var. mogholicus genomic DNA, respectively, Ten primers of 40 primers could be used to discriminate the origins and 33 polymorph isms among 44 scored DNA fragments (33 fragments are specific for A. membranaceus and A. membranaceus var. mogholicus) were generated using these primers, 75.0 % of which were polymorphic. Especially, three primers of ten primers, OPA17, OPA11 and OPB11, were useful to differentiate between domestic and foreign Astragalus species. RAPD data from the 10 primers were used for cluster analysis and cluster analysis of RAPD markers showed that the two groups are distinct genetically. Consequently, RAPD analysis was a useful method to discriminate between A. membranaceus and A. membranaceus var. mogholicus.