Abstract: The study on the leaf N and P concentrations and their stoichiometric N/P ratios of 89 main plant species in the Qianhu Campus of Nanchang University showed that the leaf N concentrations of arbors and shrubs, evergreen trees, conifers, seed plants, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons were lower than those of herbages, deciduous trees, broadleaved trees, ferns, angiosperms, and dicotyledons, leaf P concentrations of arbors and shrubs, evergreen trees, and gymnosperms were lower than those of herbages, deciduous trees, and angiosperms, and leaf N/P ratios of arbors, broadleaved trees, angiosperms, and dicotyledons were higher than those of shrubs and herbages, conifers, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the leaf N concentrations between C₃ and C₄ plants, P concentrations between conifers and broadleaved trees, ferns and seed plants, monocotyledons and dicotyledons, and C₃ and C₄ plants, and N/P ratios between evergreen and deciduous trees, ferns and seed plants, and C₃ and C₄ plants. In a word, different functional groups of plants had different preferences for N and P, and their adaptation strategies to different soil N and P supplies were differed. Based on the soil nutrients status of study area, it was suggested that evergreen trees, conifers, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons could be preferentially selected as the urban garden plants in Nanchang City.

Key words: Crop yield, Soil fertility, Nutrient balance, Long-term fertilization, Upland red soil