Abstract: In the present study， four widely adopted ornamental plants， i.e. Albizia julibrissin Durazz， Ligustrum lucidum Ait， Ilex chinensis Sims， Rhododendron simsii Planch， were selected as study objects. Seasonal variation of heavy metal contents in these plants and their root region soils was explored. It was shown that heavy metals contents in these plants and their root region soils reached the highest value in autumn， while went down in spring. Heavy metal contents decreased in the order of Zn>As>Cu>Pb>Cd>Ni in root region soils of four ornamental plants. Within the same season， heavy metal contents in root region soils decreased as Albizia julibrissin Durazz>Ligustrum lucidum Ait>Ilex chinensis Sims>Rhododendron simsii Planch. The enrichment coefficients of these four plants to As， Cd， Cu were above 1， indicating that these plants possessed relatively higher accumulation ability to As， Cd and Cu. These results could provide references for the further understanding of interactions between ornamental plants and city environment.

Key words: ornamental plants, heavy metals, root region soils