In this study, we successfully cloned four POD genes, named as GjPOD4, GjPOD5, GjPOD7 and GjPOD42 (GenBank accession numbers are MH708528, MH708531, MH708529 and MH708530), from Gerbera jamesonni cv. ‘Linglong’ using RTPCR. Their characteristics were then analyzed using series of bioinformatics methods. Moreover, to provide basis for the understanding of their function and their future application in gerbera resistance breeding, we investigated their expression patterns together with POD activities under SA, PEG, cold stress and Phytophthora cryptogea treatments. Results showed that: (1) the coding sequence length of these PODs ranged from 966 bp to 1 005 bp, encoding 321-334 amino acids. Bioinformatic analysis showed that all the four PODs belong to the class Ⅲ plant hemedependent peroxidase superfamily containing conserved domains and motif, signal peptide, transmembrane structure and phosphorylation sites. (2) Phylogenetic analysis revealed that GjPOD4, GjPOD7 and AtPRX52, GjPOD5 and AtPRX47, GjPOD42 and AtPRX42 shared close relationship. (3) These gene expression and POD activities were all found to be significantly or very significantly influenced by the treatments of SA, PEG, cold stress and gerbera root rot pathogen. While the expression pattern of GjPOD4 differed from other GjPODs. (4) Correlation analysis showed that the expression of GjPOD42 was significantly positive correlated with POD activity in different organs (P<0.05). Notably, all the gene expression were significantly induced and positively correlated with the POD activity under the Phytophthora cryptogea treatment. Results obtained in this study indicated that GjPODs played an important role in stress responses of gerbera, especially during the gerberaP. cryptogea interaction. And, the function of GjPOD4 might differ from other GjPODs.