Abstract: Taking  4-, 11-, 25-, and 37- year old Salix cheilophila stands on the alpine sandy land of Gonghe basin in Qinghai of West China as test objects, a laboratory test was conducted on their relative water  deficit, water holding ability, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf massbased nitrogen concentration (N_mass) and phosphorous concentration (P_mass), and N_mass/P_mass, aimed to understand the variation patterns of the water physiological characteristics and leaf traits of different  aged S. cheilophila on alpine sandy land. No significant difference was observed in the relative water deficit of the four stands. The daily mean value of water potential of the 37-year old stand was significantly lower, as compared with that of the other three stands, and the 4- and 11-year old stands had a significantly lower daily mean water potential than the 25-year old stand. The water loss rate of the 4-year old stand was significantly lower than that of the other three stands, and the 25-year old S. cheilophila stand had a significantly lower water loss rate than the 11-year old stand. The 4year old stand also had a significantly lower SLA than the other three stands, implying its higher water use efficiency. The N_mass of the 11-year old stand was significantly higher than that of the other three stands, and the 25-year old stand had a significantly higher N_mass than the 37-year old stand, implying that the 11 and 25-year old stands had a higher photosynthetic capacity. The P_mass of the 11-year old stand was significantly higher than that of the 25- and 37-year old stands, and the 4-year old stand had a significantly higher P_mass than the 25-year old stand. The N_mass/P_mass of the four stands was 5.16-6.28, and the 25-year old stand had a significantly higher N_mass/P_mass than the 4- and 11-year old stands. The N_mass of the four stands was significantly positively correlated with P_mass, the P_mass was highly significantly negatively correlated with N_mass/P_mass and significantly negatively correlated with stand age, and the N_mass/P_mass was significantly positively correlated with stand age. It was suggested that S. cheilophila at its different developmental stages could have different ecological adaptive strategies.