Abstract: The paper aims to reveal the relationship between naturally colonized herbaceous plant communities and environmental factors on the copper mine tailing. Based on the field plant sample survey on Shibahe copper mine tailing of Zhongtiaoshan mining area, a total of 51 sample plots of naturally colonized herbaceous plant communities were analyzed by using the methods of TWINSPAN, DCA and CCA. The results showed that: (1) the 51 sample plots within the study area were classified into ten associations by TWINSPAN, in which the first 8 communities were belongs to hygrophyte plant groups dominant by Phragmites communis and the last 2 communities were mesophyte plant groups dominant by Salix babylonica (seedlings); (2) the first DCA axis clearly reflected the relationship between the community distributions and soil moisture, soil moisture gradually decreased from left to right along the first DCA axis, and the plant species transited from hygrophyte plants to mesophyte and xero- mesophyte plants; the second DCA axis reflected the change of vegetation life- form, and the naturally colonized herbaceous plant communities changed from annual to perennial plants from bottom to top along the second DCA axis; (3) the first CCA axis was related to the change of soil moisture and conductivity, which reflected naturally colonized herbaceous plant communities transferred from hygrophyte plants to mesophyte plants, and salt-tolerant plants, the second CCA axis was related to species richness.