Our goal was to investigate the effects of environmental heterogeneity through wind erosion and sand burial on photosynthesis, morphological characteristics of assimilative branches and fruits production in mother and clonal ramets of clonal Calligonum mongolicum. Based on plenty of field surveys, we chose one typical mother ramet with one clonal fragment, that were exposed in the air due to strong wind erosion, and another sand buried clonal fragment in a mobile sand dune. Measurements were made on chlorophyll contents, net photosynthesis rate, leaf length, leaf number /cluster, cluster number /shoot, node number/ and fruit production in mother and clonal fragments of C. mongolicum under different environmental heterogeneity. The results showed: (1) under wind erosion environment, both the mother and daughter ramets had just half of the chlorophyll contents, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, intercellular CO₂ concentration and water use efficiency as compared to the daughter ramets under sand buried environment. The lower photosynthesis had restricted the leaf length, leaf number/cluster, cluster number/ shoot and leaf node number to almost half in the assimilative branches with reduced fruit lengths and widths. (2) Morphological characteristics of assimilative branches in mother ramet were best in bottom and worst in the top, by what we can preview that the dying process of mother ramte was a stage from top to bottom. (3) Though all the root system was exposed in the air, the mother ramet had survived and completed its life stages. The results confirmed that the direction of clonal integration had not only passed among the sister ramets, but also from the sister to the mother ramets, or else those would die immediately in the absence of soil.