Abstract: Based upon the maximum entropy model and archaeological geographical information system, combined with the geographical distribution records of seven species of Chinese Anabasis and 19 biological climate variables, potential distribution areas and distribution center of Chinese Anabasis were predicted. At the same time, the major climatic factors that impact potential distribution of Chinese Anabasis.were analysed The value of AUC of area under Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve as the prediction accuracy standard of this model, and jackknife test was used to evaluate the contribution of each environmental variable in deciding potential distribution areas. The results show that:(1)A. cretacea, A. elatior, A. eriopoda,A. aphylla, A. salsa, and A. truncata have extensive potential distribution in the north of Xinjiang, the southern slope of Tianshan Mountain and west margin of Tarim Basin. While A. Brevifolia has extensive potential distribution in Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia etc. (2)Through the calculation of species richness, we find that the distributional center of Chinese Anabasis L. mainly concentrated in the Xinjiang Junggar basin, southern slope of Tianshan Mountain, west margin of Tarim Basin and Hexi Corridor in the northwest of Gansu. (3)Among 19 environmental variables, there are seven environmental variables, just asannual mean temperature, precipitation of the wettest month, mean temperature of the driest quarter, annual precipitation, precipitation of the coldest quarter, annual mean temperature range and precipitation of the wettest quarter, which show a large amount of contribution to potential distribution of Chinese Anabasis.

Key words: Anabasis, maximum entropy model (MaxEnt), potential suitable distribution areas, distributional center, environmental variable