Abstract: The 2-year-old seedlings of 5 sweet gum(Liquidambar formosana Hance)provenances from Yongkang, Shaowu, Nandan, Nanchang, Jingxian were investigated under waterlogging stress. We studied the influence of the seedlings after the treatment of waterlogging. The results showed that, throughout the 120-day waterlogging period, the survival rates of seedlings of 5 formosan sweet gum provenances were 100%. Seedlings from Yongkang, Jingxian and Shaowu developed adventitious roots at the stem base, whereas no adventitious root was observed in Nanchang and Nandan. The dry matter production of 5 formosan sweet gum provenances seedlings were greatly inhibited under waterlogging stress, seedlings from Yongkang produced only 64% dry matter compared with that of CK, while little influence was found in seedlings from Nanchang, of which 90% of dry matter were produced compared with that of CK. We also found the shoot biomass and seedling height changed very little, Whereas root biomass decreased significantly, which resulted obviously in decrement of root-shoot ratio. With the prolonging of waterlogging stress, chlorophyll content in leaves of 5 formosan sweet gum provenances decreased significantly. Root morphology indexes also changed under waterlogging stress, interestingly, the total length of root, root length density and specific root length of Nandan provenance increased under waterlogging stress, which would be considered as the adaptation of roots in conquering anoxic environment. According to the growth and biomass accumulation of 5 formosan sweet gum provenances under waterlogging stress, we can conclude gum species from Nanchang and Nandan provenances would be more suitable for planting in intermittent flooding areas.