Phytoremediation technology has been widely advocated to treat polluted soil and water because it is cost-effective and environmental-friendly. Exploring suitable metal hyperaccumulators or tolerant plants is the key step for phytoremediating metal-contaminated environment. Up to now, about 500 plants have been identified as metal hyperaccumulators all over the world, but most of them are terrestrial plants, which restricted their application in aqueous environment. In 2008, Yangzong Lake, one of nine big lakes in Yunnan Province, China, was polluted by arsenic (As) released from a nearby factory. Average concentration of As in the water was up to 0.117 mg/L，suggesting that about 77 t As entered the lake. Twelve As hyperaccumulators were identified but they are all terrestrial ferns. Therefore, more attention should be paid to As accumulation in aquatic plants. In present study, the growth status and concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in 17 macrophytes naturally grown in south and north regions of Yangzong lake were evaluated by field survey and laboratory analysis. Concentrations of these five metals in water and sediments were also determined and compared with those in the plants. Results indicated that all these collected plants grew well, without any toxic symptoms. The water body was heavily and slightly polluted by As and Pb, respectively, while the concentrations of Zn, Cu and Cd were below their corresponding environmental quality standards. For 9 submerged species (Ceratophyllum demersum, Hydrilla verticillata, Blyxa octandra, Potamogeton pusillus, Potamogeton lucens, Potamogeton delavayi, Potamogeton pectinatus, Myriophyllum spicatum and Chara braunii), their bioconcentration factors (defined as the ratio of heavy metal concentration in whole plant to that in water) for As, Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb were all greater than 1, which showed a co-accumulative character for these five elements. Growing in water averagely containing 0.175 mg As/L, C. demersum, H. verticillata, P. pusillus and B. octandra showed a strong ability to accumulate As, with average As concentrations of (150±7.3), (179±35), (92±31) and (265±21) mg/kg(dry weight), respectively. For 8 hygrophyte and emerged species at north site, bioconcentration factors (the ratio of heavy metal concentration in aboveground part to that in sediment) were greater than 1 in Alternanthera philoxeroides, Echinochloa oryzicola, Ixeridium gracile and Echinochloa caudata for As, E. caudata, I. gracile, Paspalum orbiculare, Polygonum hydropiper and Cyperus alternifolius for Cd, Alocasia macrorrhiza and P. orbiculare for Zn. And translocation factors (the ratio of heavy metal concentration in aboveground part to that in root) were greater than 1 in P. orbiculare for Zn and Cd. The roots of A. philoxeroides, A. macrorrhiza, E. caudata and P. orbiculare accumulated high concentrations of As. Cluster analysis showed that C. demersum, H. verticillata, B. octandra, P. pusillus and M. spicatum could uptake and accumulate As, Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb simultaneously and had a great potential for phytoremediating water body contaminated with multiple metals. In general, accumulation of As, Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb in all tested submerged species were greater than that in hygrophyte and emerged species.