Abstract: In order to explore community characteristics and distribution of aquatic macrophytes in the Henan section of Huaihe River Basin and causes, field survey in addition to in-laboratory analysis was carried out of composition of aquatic macrophytes, and characteristics of the water and the soil environment and their relationship in the basin. Results show that a total of 51 species of aquatic macrophytes were detected, including 28 species of emergent plants, 12 species of submerged plants and 10 species of floating-leaved plants, 1 species of floating plant, which accounts for 54.9%, 23.5%, 19.6% and 2.0% of the total, respectively. They formed 14 types of communities, of which 5 were dominated with submerged plants, 6 with emergent plants and 3 with floating leaf plants. The communities varied sharply in environment, especially factors, like NH₄⁺-N, NO₃^--N,TN,TP and PO₄^3- in the water.CCA reveals that water envionment factors,such as TP, PO₄^3-,NH₄⁺-N and DO concentrations, were the key factors determining distribution of the aquatic macrophytes in the Huaihe River Basin.

Key words: Huaihe River Basin, aquatic macrophyte, CCA, environmental factors