Larix principis-rupprechtii is one of dominant deciduous coniferous tree species in subalpine temperate forests of North China. It plays significant roles in water conservation, ecotourism and biodiversity maintenance in its distributional areas. It is also one of major economic tree species in this region due to its fast growth and good-quality timber. Previous studies suggest that L. principis-rupprechtii experiences natural regeneration failure, as indicated by low proportion of saplings and seedlings in natural conditions. The failure of regeneration is a threat to persistence of L. principis-rupprechtii forests in its distributional areas. However, the causes of natural regeneration failure are still poorly understood. This study was to examine whether the natural regeneration failure of this species was driven by seed limitation. We investigated seed rain, soil seed bank and seedling regeneration in five typical larch stand types, i.e., pure L. principis-rupprechtii stand, L. rincipis-rupprechtii + Betula platyphylla stand, L. principis-rupprechtii + Populus davidiana stand, L. principis-rupprechtii + P. davidiana + B. platyphylla stand, L. principis-rupprechtii + Picea wilsonii stand. Fifteen 50 cm × 50 cm seed traps were deployed in each plot for seed rain collecting. For each plot, 15 quadrats of 20 cm×20 cm with 10cm depth and 50 quadrats of 1 m × 1 m were examined nearby seed traps for soil seed bank and recruitment survey, respectively. We found that most of seeds were dispersed from September to October. In 2011, which was a seed year of L. principis-rupprechtii, seed production was amounted to (961.93±377.40) seeds/m², (89.31±16.13)% of which was full seeds. In 2012, a common seed year, both seed production and full seeds proportion were lower than those in previous year, with (252.73±115.12) seeds/m² and (36.04±4.26)%, respectively. Furthermore, seed rain of L. principis-rupprechtii was mainly from the surrounding mother trees. Seed rain densities of pure L. principis-rupprechtii stand and L. principis-rupprechtii + P. wilsonii stand were higher than those of the other three stand types, which were mixed with broad-leave trees. Thirdly, soil seed bank of L. principis-rupprechtii was mainly from the seed rain that produced in previous year. Seed bank in April of 2012 was (695.18±297.23) seeds/m², accounting for (76.05±13.79)% of seed rain in autumn of 2011. More than 85% of seeds were found in the litter layer. About (59.73±9.56)% of the seed bank was full seeds. There were (78.98±24.76) seeds/m² remained viable to germinate before natural regeneration, accounting for (19.02±5.00)% of full seeds in soil seed bank. The germination capacity decreased with time being in forest floor, hence, forming a short-term persistent soil seed bank for L. principis-rupprechtii. Lastly, the emergence of seedlings uncoupled with the seed storage. The frequency of seedling emergence was 1.6%. Seedlings could hardly survive understory. Collectively, this study demonstrates that seed source, especially in seed year, is not the limiting factor for the poor natural regeneration of L. principis-rupprechtii. Our study suggests that further studies should be carried out to examine the detrimental or limiting factors, such as effects of soil moisture and litter, for the natural regeneration failure of the species.