Abstract: Cathaya argyrophylla Chun et Kuang is a China endemic and endangered evergreen conifer, listed in the Red Data Book of plant in China, with less than 5000 individuals remaining on earth. The age structure of C. argyrophylla population in Bamianshan Mountain showed its stability, but was different among metapopulations, especially in the aged Cathaya forests there often appeared a lack of generation continuety. Though the aboveground biomass of the population varied from 30000 kg · ha-1 to 110000 kg · ha-1 with different metapopulations, the increment of the biomass had no significant difference among metapopulations but could basically reflect the productivity of this population in that area. Its distribution patterns were mainly contagious, even when the shrub cover was very high and random in young Cathaya stands.

Key words: Cathaya argyrophylla, Population, Age structure, Aboveground biomass, Distribution pattern