Ass. Vitex negundo, Ass. Alchornea trewioides, and Ass. Bauhinia purpurea, three typical shrub communities distributing in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, play an important role in soil and water conservation. Communities with relatively low disturbance were selected as study plots through field surveys in this region. The leaf functional traits of dominant species and the water conservation characteristics of litter in each quadrat were measured. The leaf functional type of shrub communities and their relationship with water conservation were revealed to better play the role of shrub communities in ecological restoration and soil and water conservation of degraded regional ecosystems. Results showed that: (1) There were significant differences in leaf functional traits among three shrub communities. The shrub communities differentiated into two leaf functional categories as a result: one type was represented by Ass. B. purpurea associated with low dry leaf matter and organic matter and high specific leaf area (low LOMC+LDMC-high SLA). Another type was represented by Ass. A. trewioides and Ass. V. negundo associated with high dry leaf matter and organic matter and low specific leaf area (high LDMC+LOMC-low SLA). Ass. A. trewioides and Ass. V. negundo further differentiated due to difference in leaf phosphorus content (LPC). (2)The water conservation performance of community litter was also differentiated among three shrub communities due to significant differences in water conservation characteristics of litter. The litter storage (LS) and natural water content (NWC) of Ass. A. trewioides and Ass. V. negundo were significantly higher than Ass. B. purpurea, while their maximum water holding rate (MWHR) was significantly lower than Ass. B. purpurea. The maximum interception capacity (MIC) and effective interception capacity (EIC) of Ass. A. trewioides and Ass. V. negundo therefore were significantly higher than that of Ass. B. purpurea. (3) The leaf functional traits of shrub community, such as SLA, LDMC, LOMC and LPC, were significantly correlated with the characteristics of water conservation performance, including MIC and EIC, respectively. The leaf functional type associated with low LDMC+LOMC-high SLA representing by Ass. B. purpurea had lower water conservation performance, while the leaf functional type associated with high LDMC+LOMC-low SLA representing by Ass. A. trewioides and Ass. V. negundo had higher water conservation performance. In order to improve the soil and water conservation function of ecosystems, community types with high LDMC+LOMC-low SLA leaf functional type should be adopted as much as possible to restore degraded ecosystems.