Our experiment was conducted to investigate phenotypic variation of Rhododendron purdomii in 7 natural populations and to discuss the relationship between phenotypic variation of the natural population and different distribution areas.We investigated 10 quantitative traits and 8 qualitative traits in 7 natural populations of R.purdomii from Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province of China and used multicomparison,correlation analysis and cluster analysis to analyze results.Analysis showed that:(1)The flower color and spots in petal were significantly different in and among populations,while the other traits were significantly different only among populations,and similar in populations for qualitative traits.In 10 quantitative traits,differences of the mean of every quantitative trait were all significantly different in and among populations.The coefficient of variation of quantitative traits was from 0 to 55.3% in populations.Among these,pedicels length,filament length,petal width and petiole length varied more,and the number of flower varied less.(2)The correlation analysis between the phenotypic traits of R.purdomii and geography factor showed that the correlation between them were not significant except that length and width of petal were significantly negative affected by latitude,while length and width of leaf and aspect ratio were significantly negative affected by elevation.(3)Cluster analysis showed that seven natural populations of R.purdomii could be divided into 2 groups by SPSS cluster analysis.Explaining the phenotypic traits did not gather according to geography distance.In summary,the phenotypic characteristics of R.purdomii had rich variation in and among populations.And they were relevant to population characteristics and habitat.These provided references to further study the population ecosystem,conservation and utilization of R.purdomii.