The Hengduan Mountain region is one of the biodiversity hotspots of the world. We aimed to examine the karyotypes of nine seed plants from the alpine subnival belt of this region in the present study. By using the plant root tip cytology research method, the results showed that karyotype formulae and karyotype asymmetry were: Eriophyton wallichii with 2n = 2x = 16 = 4m + 12sm, 2B; Marmoritis complanatum with 2n = 2x = 18 = 10m + 8sm, 4A; Lamiophlomis rotata with 2n = 2x = 22 = 12m + 10sm (2SAT), 3A; Codonopsis bulleyana with 2n = 2x = 16 = 8m + 8sm (2SAT), 3A; Pedicularis elwesii with 2n = 2x = 16 = 2m + 14sm (2SAT), 3A