Abstract:The morphological traits, such as seedling height and basal diameter of 1-year-old seedlings of 18 provenances of Magnolia officinalis, were measured from June to October, 2008, and the genetic variation, growth rhythm and their relationships with environmental factors were studied. The results showed the extremely significant differences in seedling height and basal diameter among the 18 provenances, and also a significant correlation each other. For all of the provenances, the growth of seedlings was slower from June to July and after September, and more rapid from July to September. Furthermore, the environmental and geographical factors significantly affected on genetic variation of the Magnolia officinalis provenances, and the latter was more dominant. Moreover, the 18 provenances of Magnolia officinalis could be divided into 5 groups according to the two dimentional Non-matric Multidimensional Scaling in seedling height and basal diameter, and 3 superior provenances were screened out based on the merits of seedling growth, such as Daoxian, Sangzhi and Anhua.