Straddling the subtropical and warm\|temperate zones of East China, the Funiu Mountain National Nature Reserve is representative of north\|south climatic transition zones. The vegetation of this area consists of conspicuous dominant groups. Looking for insight into the functions, structural framework, and species distributions of this forest ecosystem, we delimited plant functional groups according to dominant shrub species. Using community ecology techniques, we investigated plant assemblages in 66 representative sampling plots on both the north and south slopes of the mountain. We used the results of this investigation to calculate species importance values, which were used to identify dominant species. We used X2 test, association coefficient (AC) and percentage co\|occurrence (PC) to measure interspecific associations of the dominant shrub species. Seven PFTs were defined according to interspecific associations and altitudinal distributions of the dominant species. These PFTs appear to reflect vegetation\|environment dynamics well. Co\|PFT species have marked similarities in some important morphological characteristics. Such characteristics differ among the PFTs. Further eco\|physiological studies are required to better understand these phenomena.