Research on soil contamination and plant absorption of toxic elements at coal gangue site can provide a scientific basis for pollution control and vegetation restoration.Soil pollution and heavy metal content in herbaceous plants are studied at Sanlidong coal gangue site in Tongchuan City.Moreover,soil pollution and the enrichment capacity of heavy metals in herbaceous species are analyzed and evaluated using geo-accumulation index and complex accumulation coefficient.Results show that all the elements of Cu,Cd,Zn,Mn,Ni,Pb and Cr in both of the soil and plants obviously exceed their background values and the Cu,Cd and Ni elements in herbaceous species are beyond their normal range.Heavy metal element Cd in soil is in the most serious pollution grade and the elements of Ni,Cu,Zn,Pb and Cr are in the slight pollution grade.For the different plants,the heavy metal enrichment capacities of Conyza canadensis（L.）Cronq.,Artemisia sacrorum Ledeb.and Artemisia lavandulaefolia D.C.are the strongest,followed by Artemisia scoparia Waldst.et Kit and Datura Stramonium Linn.The enrichment capacity of Cynodon dactylon（Linn.）Pers.is the worst.