OBJECTIVE:To establish the method for simultaneous determination of heavy metals in Platycodon grandiflorus, and to explore the effects of altitude on the contents of heavy metals. METHODS:The contents of As,Hg,Pb,Cu and Cd were determined by hydride generation,hydride generation method,graphite furnace method,flame spectrometry,graphite furnace meth-od. SPSS 19.0 software was adopted for clustering analysis and correlation analysis. RESULTS:The linear ranges of As,Hg,Pb, Cu and Cd were 0-16 μg/L(r=0.9960),0-18 μg/L(r=0.9996),0-50 μg/L(r=0.9997),0-0.8 μg/L(r=0.9990)and 0-4 μg/L (r=0.9980). Detection limit were 1.3×10-3,2.4×10-4,1.9×10-3,0.33,1.8×10-4 mg/kg. Quantitation limit were 4.4×10-3,8.0×10-4, 6.2 × 10-3,1.1,6.0 × 10-3 mg/kg. RSDs of precision,stability and repeatability tests were all lower than 3.0%. Recoveries were 99.1%-107.1%(RSD=3.13%,n=6),94.1%-100.5%(RSD=2.36%,n=6),98.9%-104.8%(RSD=1.81%,n=6),92.7%-100.3%(RSD=2.92%,n=6),96.6%-99.9%(RSD=1.26%,n=6). Samples with similar altitudes were clustered into a class;the con-tents of heavy metals decreased as the increase of altitude;there was significant correlation among 5 heavy metals. CONCLU-SIONS:The method is simple,precise,stable and repeatable,and can be used for simultaneous determination of heavy metals' contents in P. grandiflorus. The altitude has a certain effect on the quality of P. grandiflorus.