The drought resistance of woody plants,in particular,Populus,was reviewed in this paper. Studies about drought resistance of Populus mostly focused on changes in growth properties,physiological adaptation and biochemical aspects,but a few on molecular biology. The indexes of drought adaptation and productivity were analyzed and these indexes could be employed to identify drought resistance of woody plants. Combination of such different approaches will,hopefully,give us a more complete understanding of the various regulatory mechanisms in trees than what we may have today. With development of the molecular biology of woody plants,the sluties on stress resistance of Populus which was regarded as a model plant,are summarised. Ref
