Abstract： A field survey of soil and higher plants growing on an ancient coppe r spoil heap (3 000 years old) on Tonglushan in Hubei Province, China was condu cted. Chemical analysis indicated the soils contained exceptionally high concent rations of Cu (total: wt=7789 mg kg-1; extractable: wex=5 38 mg kg-1) and Fe, and relatively low concentrations of Pb, Zn, Ni, Cd and Cr. The phytoto xicity of Cu might be the limiting factor for plants natural colonization on the Cu spoil. 28 species belonging to 25 genera and 15 families were found growin g on the spoil heap, including 7 dominant species: Elsholtzia haichowensis, Si lene fortunei, Commelina communis, Polygonum capita tum, Imperata cylindraca var. major, Artemisia annua and Setaria viridi s. In general, plant distribution had certain correlation will Cu content in s oil. The soil grown with C. communis contained the highest levels of total a nd extractable Cu. That with E. haichowensis, S. fortunei and P. capitatum contained moderate or low concentrations of total and extractable Cu, while tha t with I. cylindraca and S. viridis contained the lowest amount of Cu. C. communis was newly identified as hyperaccumulator of Cu beacuse the w(Cu) in DW shoot and DW root of this species were 1 034 and 1 224 mg kg-1, resp ectively. It was also confirmed that E. haichowensis was not the Cu accumula tor as earlier report. Results presented here indicated that E. haichowensis, S. fortunei, C. communis and P. capitatum were Cu indicators, and the mon odominant association and assemblages of these spe cies would be more confident in indicating Cu deposit. Tab 4, Ref 22