Abstract:Community diversity and its patterns along latitude and altitude were studied based on 61 plot samples of evergreen broadleaved forests from 10 areas in the eastern part of the middle subtropical China. The results showed that community richness was 49± 17 species, with a diversity order of the shrub layer(including tree seedlings and saplings)>tree layer>herb layer. The difference in species richness and in diversity between different evergreen broadleaved forests is far greater than that between temperate deciduous forests and species-poor evergreen forests. Diversity variation among the communities was higher in herb layer than in tree layer, and in turn than in shrub layer. There was little change in community diversity along latitude and altitude in the research area of the eastern subtropical China.