Using limited-areas methods, the ability of several tree and shrub species to endure and survive extreme aridity under field condition in Horqin Sandy Land was studied, and the lowest critical soil water content which is endurable for each of these species was determined. By limiting the horizontal distribution extent of plant root systems, the limited-areas methods can decrease spatial heterogeneity of soil water content and improve the accuracy of determination of soil water content. Also, this method has the advantage of worsening the aridity endured by the plant species, which is helpful for testing the ability of these species to endure aridity. Our results showed that, the critical soil water contents which are endurable for Prunus sibirica L., Caragana microphylla Lam., Artemisia halodendron Turcz. ex Bess., Salix gordejevii Cheng et Skv., Ulmus pumila L., Populus pseudo-simonii Kitag. are 0.82%, 0.87%, 1.61%, 1.89%, 2.04% and 2.27%, respectively. This result is useful for evaluating the ability of these species to endure aridity, and has some important implications for establishing artificial plantations that have high stability.