Abstract: The drought resistance of Hippophea rhamnoides relates to the effects of multiple factors. It is one-sided to evaluate its resistance using single factor (single indicator). The drought resistance based on physiological and chemical indices in four H. rhamnoides species was evaluated by principal components analysis and subordinate function analysis. The results showed that the native species (H. rhamnoides ssp. Sinensis, Fengning; FN) had the strongest drought resistance compared with the other three exotic species (H. rhamnoides ssp. Mongolia, Xianyang, XY; H. rhamnoides ssp. Mongolia, Chuyi, CY; and H. rhamnoides ssp. Mongolia, Wulangemu,WL). The H. rhamnoides L. Wulangemu had the weakest drought resistance. And the capacity of drought resistance of the four species is gauged as follows: FN (0.619) > CY (0.445) > XY (0.390) > WL (0.274). It was also found that the net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, glutathione reductase and ABA content could be used as the indicators to determine the drought resistance. In addition, with the increasing of drought stress, the net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, water potential decreased, while the catalase activity, cell membrane permeability, glutathione reductase and the four kinds of hormones increased. This implies that the growth and development process of H. rhamnoides was affected under the drought stress, and they increased their own resistant ability through the internal physiological and chemical indicators changing. These will provide a scientific basis for drought-resistant species selection and cross-breeding of H. rhamnoides.