Abstract: Characteristics were studied of the seed banks and seedling banks of the five places that are different in habitats but all invaded by M. micrantha in Longchuan County, Dehong Prefecture of Yunnan Province, China, using the method of field sampling and germination test in laboratory. Results show that  seeds in the soil samples germinated and were identified to be of 40 plant species belonging to 18 families. They differed in species composition, characteristics and spatial distribution of seed germination and seedling bank between habitats. The M. micrantha seed density of rubber forest, woodlot, bushland, grassland, and river bank, the five different habitats, was 75, 109, 165, 124, and 53 seed•m^-2, respectively, showing significant difference between them (P＜0.05). The in-lab germination experiment shows that germination of M. micrantha seeds may last for 8 weeks, and concentrated during the period from the 3^rd to the 5^th weeks. Vertically, its seeds were concentrated mainly in the 0-2 cm soil layer, and then in the >2-5 cm layer, and the 5-10 cm layer, accounting for 81%, 17% and 2% of the total seeds in the 0-10 cm soil layer, respectively. In the field, germination of M. micrantha seeds may last for 6 months, that is, from May to October, and was concentrated mainly in the period from June to August.

Key words: Mikania micrantha, biological invasion, soil seed bank, seedling bank