Abstract: Determinations were implemented on density, shrinkage, swelling, bending strength, modulus of elasticity, hardness and chemical composition of natural (200-year) and planted (10-year) Taxus wallichiana var. mairei wood from Wuyi county of Zhejiang province. The results showed that under wood moisture content of 12%, the air-dried densities of natural forest and plantation wood were 0.656 g/cm3 and 0.654 g/cm3, and the oven-dried densities were 0.599 g/cm3 and 0.586 g/cm3, without significant difference (P＞0.05). The wood shrinkage of natural and planted forest was 4.805% and 4.837%. The wood dimensional stability of natural forest was slightly better than that of planted forest, but the difference was not significant (P＞0.05). The swelling of wood from natural and planted forest was 3.945% and 3.279%. The bending strength of natural and planted forest was 97.36 MPa and 63.41 MPa, the modulus of elasticity was 9 292.02 MPa and 4 489.57 MPa, with significant difference. The reason was perhaps related to the tree age. The wood end surface, radial and tangential hardness of natural forest was 3 044 N, 2 516 N and 2 806 N, and was significant higher that of plantation, except radial hardness, perhaps it caused by age. The contents of lignin, holocellulose and pentose in natural forest wood were 27.02%, 75.33% and 8.88%, because that the lignification degree of natural forest wood is higher than that of plantation. The contents of cold and hot water extractives and ash were 4.84%, 8.36% and 0.29%, higher than that in plantation wood because of the organic extracts and inorganic minerals.