Leaves were the main organs for energy, water and gas exchange between plants and the external environment. They were more sensitive to environmental changes and had greater plasticity. Taking the assimilating shoots of differentaged Haloxylon ammodendron in Minqin as the research object, we analyzed the characteristics of the anatomical structure variation of the assimilating shoots of differentaged H. ammodendron and their relationship with soil nutrients by means of paraffin section method, in order to explore the ecological adaptation mechanism of the assimilating shoots of H. ammodendron in arid environment. The results showed that: (1) in addition to the cuticular and pore of catheter, there were significant differences in the anatomical structure indexes of differentaged H. ammodendron assimilating shoots (P<0.05), and the variation coefficient ranged from 5.19% to 21.53%. (2) With the increase of the growth years, diameter of assimilating shoots got smaller，and the radius proportion of each anatomic structure index increased first and then decreased. (3) The content of soil nutrients decreased with the increase of age, and the soil moisture content varied with different locations. (4) The cuticular and palisade tissues were negatively correlated with the content of available phosphorus (P<0.05). There was a significant negative correlation between diameter of vascular cylinder and electrical conductivity (P<0.05). In conclusion, the anatomical structure of H. ammodendron assimilating shoots was closely related to soil conditions, and the leaf structure can be better adapted to arid desert environment by changing, in order to provide theoretical basis for the protection and utilization of H. ammodendron resources in this area.