To explore the effects of drought stress on leaf structure of Eucommia ulmoides and understand the characteristics of drought adaptation， 2-year-old cutting seedlings of ‘Huazhong No.6’ were used as experimental materials. The results showed the leaf relative water content， sponge tissue thickness and lower epidermis thickness were significantly lower on the 16th day of drought stress compared with the control group respectively. During the drought stress， the stomatal density of leaves increased at first and then decreased， while the stomatal size expressed by stomatal area， stomatal length and stomatal width pointed a trend of “increase-decrease-increase” and there was a significant negative linear correlation among stomatal length and width and stomatal density. The main reason of the cutting seedling thickness thinning of Eucommia ulmoides was that the sponge tissue thickness became smaller. Under drought stress for 11 days， the stomata of leaves were small and dense， the stomata closure increased， while the stomata showed larger and sparser adaptation characteristics for 16 days under drought stress.
%U https://bbr.nefu.edu.cn/EN/10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2021.06.013