Objective Visits by field surveys to understand the collection process Panax， after cleaning treatment， copper， cadmium， arsenic， lead and mercury were measured through data analysis to identify factors affecting the heavy metal content of Panax. Methods Experimental material was collected， washed， sliced， dried， ground and sieved， after microwave digestion digestion inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer samples were determined. Results notoginseng samples after cleaning， the arsenic content decreased obviously； cadmium content changed little； copper， lead and a trend of decrease. Conclusion Panax heavy metals in soil planted mainly from commodity markets that most of them are not clean waxing， polishing the sale， which is the main reason causing Panax heavy metals exceeded.