Abstract: For early selection of the excellent provenances of Cyclocarya paliurus,analysis was made of the growth characteristics and leaf traits of five saplings,which were from Muchuan of Sichuan,Liping of Guizhou,Dong'an of Hunan,Wufeng of Hubei and Xiushui of Jiangxi.The results showed that there were significant differences in growth characteristics among different provenances of C. paliurus saplings.And there were significant differences in leaflet length,width and area,with the exception of leaf thickness,compound leaf petiole diameter and compound leaf petiole length.The correlation analysis and principal component analysis method were applied to evaluate the growth characteristics and leaf traits of C. paliurus saplings. The results showed that there was an extremely significant positive correlation among the height of tree,the ground diameter and number of sub-branch,the length and diameter of the longest lateral branch;There was an extremely significant positive correlation among the number of sub-branch and leaflet area,length and width;The leaflet length and width,and area were respectively correlated positively with the compound leaf petiole diameter and compound leaf petiole length. The cumulative variance proportion of the first two principal components was 97.18%.According to comprehensive evaluation,the higher comprehensive scores of C. paliurus saplings among different provenances were from Muchuan of Sichuan and Liping of Guizhou.