ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the content of tanshinone IIA in Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae from different habitats are regularly altered and find out the deviation between the studies.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The data of the content of tanshinone IIA in samples of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae from different areas and related information since 1997 was collected and statistically analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULT AND CONCLUSION</b>The content of tanshinone IIA in wild Salvia was generally higher than that in the cultivated Salvia, and the content in nearly half cultivated Salvia was less than 0.2%. There existed a big difference between the used statistical model, and the data related the content in samples from Sichuan was the most divisive. The coefficient of variation of wild Salvia was below the cultivated Salvia, and the cultivated Salvia from different areas showed different coefficients of variation. The content of tanshinone IIA was lower when samples were extracted using the heating reflux method.</p>