Objective To study the influence of climate, geographical environment and harvesting time on contents of schaftoside in Desmodium styracifolium Herba. Methods Content of schaftoside in Desmodium styracifolium Herba was determined by using HPLC. ODS-C18 column (4. 6 mmí250 mm,5 μm) was used, the mobile phase was methanol-water (3268), the detection wavelength was 272 nm, the flow rate was 0. 5 mL·min-1, and the column temperature was 35℃. Results The climate type, amount of precipitation, average temperature, duration of sunshine, geographical environment of different province had significant impacts on the content of schaftoside in Desmodium styracifolium Herba. Conclusion Subtropical monsoon climate, temperature from 25 ℃ to 32 ℃, sunshine time of 10 h per day and the average annual rainfall of 1 942 mm are suitable for growth of Desmodium styracifolium. The content of schaftoside in samples cultivated from Guangxi Province is higher than that cultivated from Guangdong Province and Hainan Province. The schaftoside content of sample cultivated in July is higher than that cultivated in other months.