Abstract: An investigation was made on the biomass and major active compounds of wild and cultivated Coptis teetaalong an altitude gradient in Nujiang of Yunnan. The results showed that the rhizome and root biomass of wild C. teeta increased from the altitude 2 100 m to 2 700 m, but the difference was not significant. The rhizome biomass of cultivated C. teeta was 87.5 kg·hm^-2 at 2 600 m and 97.0 kg·hm^-2 at 2 700 m, being much higher than 34.8 kg·hm^-2 at 2 300 m (P<0.05). At the same altitudes (2 300 m, 2 600 m, and 2 700 m), cultivated C. teeta had higher rhizome and root biomass than wild C. teeta, but the difference was not significant. There was a significant positive correlation between the rhizome and root biomass and the whole plant biomass of wild C. teeta. Wild C. teeta had the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.60%) and root (1.93%) at 2 700 m, plamatinein in rhizome, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome and root at 2 600-2 700 m, and plamatinein in root at 2 300 m; while cultivated C. teetahad the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.41%) and root (1.90%) at 2 600 m, plamatinein in rhizome and root, and berberine and jatrorrhizine in root at 2 600-2 700 m, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome at 2 300 m. The content of major active compounds in wild C. teeta rhizome and root were significantly higher at 2 600 m and 2 700 m than at 2 100 m and 2 300 m (P<0.05), and the rhizome biomass, root biomass, leaf biomass, total biomass, height, and canopy diameter of wildC. teeta ramet increased first and decreased then from the altitude 2 100 m to 2 700 m. Increasing planting density and enhancing artificial management could improve the biomass of C. teeta and its major active compounds concentrations.

Key words: rhizopheric effect, root branch order,  , Q₁₀ value, midsubtropical forest,  Pinus massoniana, Castanopsis sclerophylla.