The apparent permanent wilting index(APWI)of 48 accessions of Zoysia. were studied using Zoysia japonica cv. Lanyin No. 3, Z. japonica cv. Qingdao and Manila (Z. matrella) as the checks. The results showed that: 1) The variation in range of APWI of 51 accessions was 8. 78% — 13. 41%, with a 9. 10% coefficient of variation. There were 6 accessions whose APWI was significantly lower than that of 'Lanyin No. 3'; 2 accessions significantly lower than that of Manila; 15 accessions significantly lower than that of 'Qingdao' , and 2 accessions significantly lower than that of the 3 checks. Highly significant differences existed among the APWI of the 51 accessions. 2) The APWI of five species were ranked as: Z. sinica >Z. macrostaycha >Z. japonica >Z. matrella =Z. tenuifolia, in which the largest coefficient of variation was in accessions of Z. japonica. 3) There were obvious differences of APWI in accessions of Z. japonica and Z. sinica. The variance of drought resistance of Z. japonica was higher than that of Z. sinica. 4) There was no significant linear correlation between the latitude or longitude of collection sites and the APWI of accessions of Zoysia or of Z. sinica and Z. japonica.