Wind is an important ecological factor, seriously influencing the aboveground growth and architecture of the plant. The plant can adjust the aboveground architecture to change the capture of light and to regulate the resistance to the external mechanical pressure. Salsola arbuscula,one of native shrubs in Dabancheng, grows in the habitat with strong wind and drought. However, its resistance capacity to wind has not been assessed. We investigated the phenotype of S. arbuscula under chronic strong wind to know how S. arbuscula responds to wind disturbance in growth and architecture.Wind generators and pots were used to simulate, lasting for 105 days. The wind generators operated for 6 hours each day from 14:00 to 20:00.Four treatments in wind speeds 0.3(control), 3, 7, 12 m/s were designed. Strong wind led to asymmetrical canopies and basal stem the diameter along the wind direction was significantly thicker than that perpendicular to wind direction. In the wind speeds of 3, 7, 12m/s, the height of S. arbuscula was reduced by 31%, 45% and 72% respectively. The trunk angle to horizon was reduced by 49%, 69% and 80%respectively. the leaf angle to trunk in the windward sector was reduced by 32%, 39% and 47%respectively; and that in the leeward sector was by 36%, 67% and 68%respectively.But the leaf angle to trunk perpendicular to the wind in the west was decreased by 44%, 50% and 59%respectively; that in the east was by 53%, 59% and 62%respectively. S. arbuscula had the second order branch, and the branch angle to trunk was reduced by 24% and 40%, while the number of leave was increased by 54% and 31% under the wind speeds of 7 and 12m/s, respectively. In the wind speeds of 3, 12m/s, the crown area of S. arbuscula was reduced by 54% and 68%, respectively. However, in the wind speed of 12m/s, the leaf length of S. arbuscula in the windward and leeward sector and perpendicular to the wind(west and east) were reduced 39%, 38%, 40% and 36%, respectively. But the total branch number, number of the first order branch, trunk length, average branch length and length of the first order branch of S. arbuscula were not significantly changed with wind load, compared with control plants.It is indicated that S. arbuscula has the capacity to significantly reduce its exposed surface area and the aerodynamic drag in response to chronic high wind disturbance, by reconfiguring the non-uniform canopy architecture to present a streamlined shape to adapt the prevailing wind, and decreasing the angle of the primary branches and leaves.