Abstract:In order to understand the changes of alien invasive plants (AIPs) in Guangzhou during 2008-2016, the species number, origin, life form, invasive pathway and harmful degree of alien invasive plants were investigated recently in Guangzhou basing on combination of literatures and field survey. The result showed that there were 144 invasive species belonging to 38 families and 112 genera in Guangzhou in 2016, which were more than those in 2008 for 97.3%, 40.7% and 89.8% respectively. The 71 new alien invasive species were dominant with Fabaceae (14 species), Asteraceae (13 species), Convolvulaceae (6 species), Poaceae (6 species) and Rubiaceae (5 species). The AIPs mainly originated from America (104 species), and most of them were terrestrial herbs. More than 50% invasive species were introduced intentionally, and then invaded local ecosystem in Guangzhou. In addition, the alien plants at malicious and severe harmful degree took up about 40% of the total species, indicating that the urban forest ecosystem of Guangzhou have been facing serious threaten. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the dynamics monitoring of alien plants, improve the risk evaluation of alien terrestrial herbaceous plants, and carry out the development and utilization of alien plants, so as to establish a stable ecological security patterns and safeguard the construction of green ecological city.