The seeds of Castanopsis kawakamii fallen from the mother trees on the forest floor, after germination its root morphology under different dispersal positions (seeds on top of litter, seeds without litter, and beneath litter) may affect the seedlings settlement and establishment. Unfortunately, how the seed dispersal positions affect the seedlings root systems, especially for the morphology and growth characteristics, remains insufficiently understood. The lack of information limits the understanding of root adaptive strategy in different dispersal positions. Hence, we took C. kawakamii as research object by simulating the seeds position in litter, and set up three seeds dispersal positions including seeds on top of litter (2 cm and 4 cm litter under seeds, U2 and U4 treatments), soil surface (without litter, CK treatment), and seeds beneath litter (seeds were covered by 2, 4, 6, 8 cm litter, D2, D4, D6 and D8 treatments), aiming to explore the effect of seed dispersal positions on nine growth indices of root for C. kawakamii seedlings. The results showed that (1) there was a significant difference in root dry mass of C. kawakamii seedlings among different seed dispersal positions. Root dry mass of D2 treatment was higher than other treatments, whereas of U4 treatment was the lowest. (2) The root length, root surface area, root tips number, root forks number and specific root length of D2 treatment were higher than those of other treatments; whereas the root average diameter reached the maximum under D6 treatment. (3) Correlation analysis showed that root length, root surface area, root tips number, root forks number and specific root length had significantly negative correlation with root average diameter. (4) We extracted principal components from nine root growth indices and then clustered them into 4 groups. D2 and D4 treatments were separately divided into two groups; U2 and U4 treatments were divided into one group, and the other three treatments were divided into one group. We concluded that seeds beneath litter (D2 treatment) was the most suitable growth pattern for root growth of C. kawakamii. The U2 and U4 treatments of seeds on top of litter mainly prevented roots from contacting with soil via litter barrier; whereas when it contacted with the soil, the root growth rate was accelerated. Seedlings grew in the soil surface (CK treatment) with the restricted light and water conditions, and its root grew in D6 and D8 treatments was inhibited due to mechanical hindrance of deep litter. These factors led the seedlings to regulate the investment of root dry mass and root morphological plasticity to adapt the seed dispersal positions. Therefore, we should properly remove litter by human interference during root rapid growth stage to promote the regeneration of C. kawakamii seedlings in the natural forest.