The means and variance range of species richness,species diversity and evenness indices of four life forms(trees,shrubs,herbages,vines) in five typical communities in Baohua Mountain Natural Reserve were analyzed with Ftest and ttest analysis.The result shows that the variance range of species richness of herb is significantly greater than that of vine and greater than that of trees,the variance range of species richness of shrubs is significantly greater than that of vine,but the variance range of species richness of shrubs and trees is not significant.Though the environment is quite different in the 5 communities,the variance range and average of species diversity indices of trees,shrubs and herbs do not vary obviously.Though the means of evenness indices for each life form do not show obvious difference,the variance range of evenness indices of trees and shrubs is much greater than that of herbs and vines,which shows that the indices of species evenness of trees and shrubs are more effective than vines and herbs in representing the difference of community type and disturbance regime.Besides,the research shows that the indices based on importance value are more significant than those on individuals.