Abstract:Artemisia sphaerocephala is a dominant native species distributed in Mu Us sandy land and it is widely used for vegetation rehabilitation in arid and semi-arid regions of North China. In literature, there exist two different opinions on the effect of light on seed germination of A. sphaerocephala. Such confusion hinders practical applications of these findings in air seeding. In this study, the influence of light on seed germination of A. sphaerocephala was further examined to validate the two findings. Several environmental factors are considered including the sources of seeds, the time and methods of seed storage, seed position, and temperature. Results show that the sources of seeds, the time and methods of seed storage and seed position significantly influenced seed germination of A. sphaerocephala. The final percent germination of A. sphaerocephala was higher in dark than in light at low temperature regime (10∶20℃). The final percent germination was lower for seeds from Yulin than those from Otog and Ejin Horo (6.4％-54.4％ and 0.8％-48％ lower, respectively). In dark condition, the final percent germination was lower for dry seeds than fresh seeds and seeds stored in natural habitats (6.4％-41.6％ and 2.4％-39.2％ lower, respectively). It was also found that the final percent germination was mostly lower for seeds gathered from lower part of branches than from upper ones (2.4％-41.6％). These results support the findings by Zheng et al that lower temperatures and strong light inhibit the seed germination of A.sphaerocephala. Hence, efforts should be made so that seeds could be covered with sands after air seeding to facilitate seed germination in dark condition.