Glass house pot experiment and hydroponics culture were conducted to study the tolerance and uptake of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb under mixed heavy metal contaminated conditions by Elsholtzia ciliate. The results showed that E. ciliate grew well in all the pot treatments, and there was no significant difference in shoot and root biomass. Concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in the shoot were 12.1, 100, 0.83 and 11.3 mg/kg, respectively, which did not show any toxic symptom of plant. In hydroponics culture, E. ciliate also grew normally in Cu 50 μmol/L, Zn 200μmol/L+Cd 10μmol/L and Pb 100μmol/L treatments, no significant difference existed in shoot and root biomass, and Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb concentrations in root were up to 2270, 1648, 1029 and 25331 mg/kg, respectively. In Cu 100 μmol/L treatment, E. ciliate plant biomass were lower than that of the control, but plant was still alive; in this heavy metal treatments, MDA, GSH and soluble sugar concentrations in plant leaves were all higher than that of control. The above results proved that E. ciliate has a strong tolerant ability to Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb and is a kind of good economic plant growing on heavy metal contaminated soil.