Objective Sarcandra glabra is a widely-used Chinese medicinal herb,but the wild germplasm resources were decreasing.In order to protect the germplasm resources,the genetic diversity and genetic relationship among the various provenances should be analyzed.Methods ISSR Molecular markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of S.glabra collected from eight provenances.The genetic diversity,genetic distance,and cluster analysis were performed by Popgen32 software and UPCMA method.Results Ten screened polymorphic primers were used in ISSR-PCR and 111 bands were amplified,among them including 106 polymorphic bands that were about 95.50%.Genetic distance of eight different provenances were ranged from 0.034 7—0.185 0.The genetic diversity of S.glabra mainly came from the interior variation of every provenance,for Gst=0.340 3.Conclusion Provenances of S.glabra can be divided into two groups and based on the relationship of genetic distance and altitude,the provenances can be divieded as follows:correspondingly higher altitude group(800-900 m);correspondingly lower altitude group(250-300 m);middling altitude group(600 m).