Abstract: The life-form and breeding systems of alien plants in China, including their fruit type, flower size, flower color and flowering duration, were deeply analyzed in this paper. The results show that there are 137 species of alien invasive plants which belong to 30 families and 94 genera in China, of which Asteraceae (46 species), Poaceae (26 species), Fabaceae (11 species), Amaranthaceae (10 species) and Brassicaceae (6 species) accounted for 72.3% of China’s invasive plants. The analysis results of plant life forms show that the number of herbaceous plant is the largest, which has 130 types and the ratio of total species is 94.8%; and only 3 species, 2 species, and 2 species of shrub, tree and vine, which accounts for 2.2%, 1.5%, 1.5% respectively. Compared with some region of the world, the proportion of the invasion of woody (trees and shrubs) plant is lower in China. In terms of breeding way, there are 88 species whose main breeding way is seed reproduction, accounting for 64.2% of the whole invasive species, while 43 species breed with both cloning and seed reproduction, accounting for 31.4%. In the perspective of flower, 63.5% species produce relative small and bright color flowers which are favor for pollination by insects. They also has relative shorter flowering, and 66.4% species has a flowering time less than 5 months. All these characteristics could be benefit for plant invasion. In addition, 95.6% of total invasive plants have dry fruits, of which 62 species have achene; while only 4.4% of all invasive plants have fleshly fruits. The results show that the species with herbaceous and seed reproduction, small flower and short-flowering are easier to enter into China.

Key words: alien plant, sexual system, life-form, invasion, China