Abstract:To illustrate seasonal variation rule of C, N and P stoichiometric characteristics of different shrub plant leaves, understand the plants adapt to the environment strategy, four main shrub in Minqin arid desert area (Haloxylon ammodendron, Calligonum arborescens , Nitraria tangutorumS, Caragana korshinskii Kom.) as the research object, and in the growing season C, N, P content and its measurement ratio were analyzed. The results show that:(1) the leaf C, N, P and C:N, C:P and N:P of the four desert plants had different changing rules in the whole growing season, and the variation coefficients of the above indexes between seasons were also different among the four kinds of plants. (2) The content of C in the leaves of Calligonum arborescens and Caragana korshinskii Kom. were significantly higher than that of Nitraria tangutorum and Haloxylon ammodendron (p < 0.05). The N content in the leaves of Nitraria tangutorumS was significantly higher than that of the leaves of the other three plants (p < 0.05). No significant difference in the content of P in leaves of 4 plants (P > 0.05) (3) Based on the total variation (resulting from two factors: season and species) for each parameter in these four shrubs, the rank of CV for each parameter was P (28.34%) > C:P (24.70%) > N:P (19.07%) > N (17.49%) > C:N (16.89%) > C (2.91%). (4) Leaf C and N contents and leaf C:N, C:P and N:P mass ratios were mainly determined by plant species, and leaf P contents was mainly affected by growing season.