ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide the basal data for artificial cross breeding of Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza from 7 provinces in China and its 4 relatives.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The pollen viability was evaluated by TTC (2, 3, 5-triphenylte trazolium chloride) test and the stigma receptivity was evaluated by benzidine-H2O2 method.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The pollen viability of S. miltiorrhiza from 6 provinces in China and its 4 relatives deceased during time of pollen shedding. Their highest pollen viability was in 2 or 3 days after blooming. But the pollen viability of S. miltiorrhiza (wild and culture) from Hean province in China declined with time after blooming. The most obvious variation of the pollen viability was in S. miltiorrhiza from Shanxi province (RSD 71.3% ) and the least was in wild S. miltiorrhiza from Henan province (RSD 12.4%). The highest average pollen viability was wild S. miltiorrhiza (72.3%) from Henan province while the lowest was S. yunnanensis (38.8%). The stigmas of all the accessions had receptivity when blooming. The stigma receptivity of S. brevilabra was strong in 2 to 4 days after blooming, while the others had less change after blooming. The life span of pollen grains and stigmas could be maintained from 3 to 5 days.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The optimum artificial pollination time of S. miltiorrhiza and its relatives was 2 to 3 days after blooming.</p>