Abstract: The number of plant division, plant height, base diameter, leaf length and leaf width of Rhodiola sachalinensis from 14 natural populations collected in Pingdingshan of Heilongjiang Province and Changbai Mountain of Jilin Province were analysised to study the morphological variation mechanism of natural populations. Variance analysis of single factor indicates that there are significant differences in morphological indexes except branch number in 14 natural populations. Multiple comparison analysis of 4 characters shows that morphological characters in different habitats have differentiated in some degree. Cluster analysis for 14 natural populations shows that there are obvious correlations between morphological variety of Rh. sachalinensis and their habitats.

Key words: Rhodiola sachalinensis, morphological character, adaption