The honeybee Apis cerana, which can pollinate different plants, has an important ecological service value. To further understand the diversity and characteristics of Apis cerana selecting nectar and pollen plants, pollen composition of honey samples from Baoji (in Shaanxi Province), Wangmo (in Guizhou Province), and Fengshan (in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) were studied using PCR, DNA barcoding, and high-throughput sequencing technologies to assess the diversity of plants foraged by Apis cerana. Based on analysis of the obtained sequences of rbcL gene fragments, it was found that there was no significant difference in Alpha diversity index of nectar and pollen plants at the OTU level among all samples and that there was a high correlation among different replicates of samples from the same site, but a low correlation among samples from different regions. A total of 82 species of nectar and pollen plants belonging to 71 genera, 46 families, and 27 orders were identified, among which 57 species were identified from BJ samples, 30 species were identified from WM samples, and 40 species were identified from FS samples, with great differences in the species composition of the nectar and pollen plants in different regions. According to the plants identified from the selected samples, the order Asterales has the most abundant species, followed by Ranunculales, with 12 species and 7 species respectively. Among them, there are 44 species of herbs and 38 species of woody plants (including trees, shrubs and woody vines, etc.). The characteristics of inflorescence of the nectar and pollen plants were analyzed, but no obvious preference for inflorescence selection was found in this study. In terms of the floral composition of the different genera, there are generally more plants belonging to temperate distribution types than tropical distribution types, with 46.5% and 36.6%, respectively, while in the FS samples, there are more tropical distribution types than temperate distribution types. The dominant species in different samples, including Artemisia rubipes, Helianthus annuus, Brassica rapa, Mallotus phillipensis, and Eriobotrya japonica, etc. deserve further study to understand their relationship to Apis cerana. According to the phylogenetic relationships of nectar and pollen plants, the plants visited by Apis cerana lie in different evolutionary clades, with the main concentration in the Rosids and Asterids clades. This study reveals the composition characteristics of Apis cerana selecting nectar and pollen plants which will provide a basis to understand the importance of pollination service function of Apis cerana.