An investigation was made on the biomass and major active compounds of wild and cultivated Coptis teeta along an altitude gradient in Nujiang of Yunnan. The results showed that the rhizome and root biomass of wild C. teeta increased from the altitude 2100 m to 2700 m, but the difference was not significant. The rhizome biomass of cultivated C. teeta was 87.5 kg x hm(-2) at 2600 m and 97.0 kg x hm(-2) at 2700 m, being much higher than 34.8 kg x hm(-2) at 2300 m (P < 0.05). At the same altitudes (2300 m, 2600 m, and 2700 m), cultivated C. teeta had higher rhizome and root biomass than wild C. teeta, but the difference was not significant. There was a significant positive correlation between the rhizome and root biomass and the whole plant biomass of wild C. teeta. Wild C. teeta had the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.60%) and root (1.93%) at 2700 m, plamatinein in rhizome, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome and root at 2600-2700 m, and plamatinein in root at 2 300 m; while cultivated C. teeta had the highest content of berberine in rhizome (4.41%) and root (1.90%) at 2600 m, plamatinein in rhizome and root, and berberine and jatrorrhizine in root at 2600-2700 m, and jatrorrhizine in rhizome at 2300 m. The content of major active compounds in wild C. teeta rhizome and root were significantly higher at 2600 m and 2700 m than at 2100 m and 2300 m (P < 0.05), and the rhizome biomass, root biomass, leaf biomass, total biomass, height, and canopy diameter of wild C. teeta ramet increased first and decreased then from the altitude 2100 m to 2700 m. Increasing planting density and enhancing artificial management could improve the biomass of C. teeta and its major active compounds concentrations.