The contents of Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn and Zn in Coptis teeta Wall. and soil from Yunnan province of China were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The spike recoveries were between 97.7-107.4 % and the RSD were between 0.47-1.70 %. The order of the element contents was Fe > Ca > Mg > Mn > Zn in soil and Ca > Mg > Fe > Zn > Mn in rhizome of Coptis teeta and Mg > Ca > Fe > Mn > Zn in root of Coptis teeta. Ca-Fe had significantly positive correlation at the 0.05 level (r = 0.746) in soil and Ca-Mg, Ca-Fe, Ca-Mn, Ca-Zn, Mg-Fe, Mg-Mn, Mg-Zn, Fe-Mn, Fe-Zn, Mn-Zn at the 0.01 level (r = 0.824-0.991). Ca-Zn had significantly negative correlation at the 0.01 level (r = -0.870) in rhizome of Coptis teeta. Mn-Ca, Zn-Ca had significantly negative correlation at the 0.05 level (r = -0.771, -0.753) in root of Coptis teeta, whereas Zn-Mn had significantly positive correlation at 0.05 level (r = 0.786). Ca-Ca had significantly positive correlation at 0.01 level (r = 0.9117) between rhizome and root of Coptis teeta and Fe-Fe at 0.05 level (r = 0.693).