Yunnan is a high background area of heavy metal elements, but also the main producing area of Panax notoginseng. In recent years, the problem of heavy metal accumulation in Chinese herbal medicines has attracted much attention. However, due to the reason of continuous cropping, Panax notoginseng cultivation has extended from the traditional producing areas Wenshan to other areas. The accumulation of four heavy metal elements in soil and Panax notoginsengin four cities of Honghe Prefecture were studied in this paper. The results showed that: (1) the content of Cd in Panax notoginseng planting area was 0.113-1.01 mg/kg, As was 5.34-220.2 mg/kg, Cu was 30.6-143 mg/kg, and the average value was 0.48, 53.17 and 58.30 mg/kg, respectively, samples from many sampling points exceeded the standard; (2) studied by the comprehensive pollution index, it was found that the degree of heavy metal pollution in the four cities was in an order of Jianshui＞Luxi＞Mengzi＞Gejiu; (3) Cd, As and Pb in leaves and roots exceeded the standard seriously, and the over standard rate of these three elements in leaves was 64.7%, 58.8% and 94.1%, respectively; the over
standard rate of Cd and As in roots reached 82.4% and 58.8%, while Cu was lower than the standard; (4) Panax notoginseng in planting area had higher enrichment ability of Cd, and that of Cu and Pb was lower, and the enrichment ability of Cu, Pb, As and Cd in leaves was higher than that of roots, Panax notoginseng had the transfer ability of Cu, Pb, As and Cd to the aboveground parts, and the transfer coefficient was 1.61, 4.15, 3.05 and 1.22, respectively, and the transfer capacity followed the order of Pb＞As＞Cu＞Cd.
