This study was conducted to investigate the response of specific leaf area (SLA) and photosynthesis of Medicago sativa and Cichorium intybus grown under field environmental conditions to the super absorbent polymer (SAP). The SAP was added to the soil at the following rates: 0 (CK), 15 kg·hm-2 and 30 kg·hm-2. The results showed that the SAP had no significant effect on the SLA of Medicago sativa（P>0.05）, while it had significant effect on that of Cichorium intybus（P<0.05）. Applied with 15 kg·hm-2 of SAP, Medicago sativa had higher Pn, gs and WUE than the CK significantly（P<001）, but when applied with 30 kg·hm-2 of SAP, its Pn and gs were significantly lower than that of the CK（P<001）, maintaining with high WUE; for Cichorium intybus, the Pn and Tr were lower after applied with SAP, but there is no significant difference between its WUE and that of the CK（P>0.05）, indicating that these two species responded to the changed water environmental conditions by taking two different physiological reactions respectively. The correlations between Pn and gs, Pn and Tr of Medicago sativa applied with 30 kg·hm-2 of SAP were the most closely connected（P<0.01）, while the correlation between Pn and WUE of the CK were the most closely connected, next were the treatments with 15 kg·hm-2 and 30 kg·hm-2 of SAP respectively; for Cichorium intybus, the connections of correlations between Pn and gs, Tr and WUE all showed in the following order: treatment with 15 kg·hm-2 of SAP< treatment with 30 kg·hm-2 of SAP