Strobilanthes limprichtii is a rock plant naturally growing on the stones of dry valley in the southwest part regions of China, and this plant is found to be very tolerant to drought stress and infertile soil in its natural habitat. Elucidating the physiological responses to drought stress and the following rehydration will help us understand the physiological mechanism and adaption of this plant species to drought resistance. In the present study, we measured the phenotypic and physiological responses, including content of chlorophyll, lipid peroxidation,osmosisregulating substances，and activities of antioxidant enzymes after drought stress through withholding water and rehydration treatment. The results showed that: (1) the relative water content (RWC) and content of chlorophyll modestly declined under drought stress, while the RWC and the content of chlorophyll rapidly increased after rehydration. (2) Progress drought stress treatment after 9 days, the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide radicals (O-·2), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) increased, while the level of the electrolyte leakage, and the contents of soluble sugar and proline increased after 12 days drought stress treatment. With rehydration, the contents of MDA, O-·2, and H2O2 quickly and activities the SOD and POD, the contents of soluble sugar and proline gradually decreased. (3) After 21 days progressive drought stress treatment, the soil water content decreased to 4.26%, and the leaves is severely wilted with the flattened plant, but rehydration recovered the plant growth progressively. These above results indicated that S. limprichtii has the relative potent capacity on the osmotic adjustment, enzymatic antioxidation, and leaf water holding, and it was conclude that this plant has the great capability to cope with drought stress and can recover from rehydration quickly. Therefore, S. limprichtii could be used as a potential landscape plant for the sideslope greening.