Sprouting is a significant part in natural regeneration strategy, playing an important role in sustaining forest community stability. By using Torustranslation tests, we examined sprouting characteristics of woody plants in a fully mapped 15hm² plot in a northern tropical karst seasonal rain forest in Nonggang, Guangxi, southern China, analyzed the differences of sprouting ability among three habitat types (gully, hillside and ridge), and tested the relationship between sprouting ability and environmental factors. A total of 190 species showed sprouting ability, with 1831 individuals per hectare. The sprouting ability significantly differed among the three habitat types, being stronger in ridges but lower in hillsides. In addition, the habitat-associated sprouting ability was correlated to DBH (diameter at breast height) class of sprouts. Spearman’s correlation analyses with Torus-translation tests showed that the sprouting ability was significantly positively correlated with elevation, convex, slope, and cosine values of aspect, while significantly negatively correlated with the total cross-sectional area at breast height of all individuals in each quadrat. Our results revealed that sprouting regeneration was common in this karst seasonal rain forest, and there might be an association between the sprouting distribution pattern and environmental factors. However, long-term dynamic monitoring data would be necessary to reveal the underlying ecological processes and mechanisms of this sprouting pattern.