Abstract: This study focused on the foliage of major plants in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaf forest in Shitai, Anhui province, and we tried to figure out the trait of foliar C, N and P at different types, and strived to reveal their relationships. The result showed that foliar C concentrations were ranged from 400.08 to 519.36 mg/g, N from 5.15 to 15.39 mg/g and P from 0.30 to 0.97 mg/g for 28 major species. The ratios of m(C):m(N), m(C):m(P)and m(N):m(P)was 29.99-92.25, 467.01-1 443.81 and 10.01-29.29, respectively. There was a strong correlation between N and P, m(C):m(N)and m(C):m(P). The change of m(N):m(P)ratio was mainly determined by the P concentration. As for the relationships among C, N, P concentrations in different types, we concluded that ratio of foliar m(C):m(N)was 59.68 in shrubs, 51.56 in trees, and 44.50 in herb, and significant difference was found between the shrub and herb species. The ratio of foliar m(C):m(P)was 1 043.4 in shrubs, 818.78 in herb, 808.35 in trees. There was significant difference between shrubs and both trees and herbs. These showed that maximum utilization efficiency of N and P existed in shrub species. The m(N):m(P)ratios for shrubs, herbs and trees were more than 16, indicating that evergreen broad-leaf forest was restricted by P utilization. The higher ratio of m(C):m(P)manifested that plants would be more efficient for the restriction elements, reflecting the responses of plants adapting to the environment.