Abstract: In order to understand the mechanism of physiological response of plants to drought stress, one-year-old Cinnamomum camphora seedlings with different planting densities (10, 20, 40, 80 seedlings·m^-2) were grown in drought stress environments by manual simulation, and their physiological indices were determined at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 d after drought stress. The results showed that the water content of seedlings under drought stress decreased with the extension of drought duration and the decrease amplitude increased with increasing planting density in each drought stage. The chlorophyll content of seedlings except for the density of 10 trees·m^-2 increased and then followed by a decrease with increasing drought duration, and the variation amplitude increased with increasing density. Soluble sugar, soluble protein contents and SOD activity of seedlings under different planting densities increased with increasing drought duration, whereas their proline and MDA contents tended to increase, and the variation amplitude of these indices increased with increasing density. Generally, the drought resistance of C. camphora decreased with increasing density of seedlings.