The valence change of samarium from trivalent to divalent in strontium hexaborate(SrB
6O
10) prepared in air is observed. The temperature dependence of the
luminescence andvibronic transitions of Sm
2+ are studied. The Sm
2+ ions occupy three crystallographic sites.With increasing temperature, the
5D
07F
0 transition line exhibits red shifts, and the half-width increases. At room temperature, due to the thermal population through the 4f
55dchannel, the
5D
17F
J transitions are observed even though the vibrational energy is veryclose to the energy gap between the
5D
1 and
5D
0 levels in the host. A coupled phonon energyof about 108 cm
-1 is determined from the vibronic transitions of Sm
2+ in the host.