The abundance and composition of aquatic plants have great effect on shallow lakes or river ecosystems. The diversity of aquatic plants from rivers and lakeshore zone in Chaohu Basin were investigated in April and July, 2013. The flora of aquatic plants was analyzed and the species diversity was assessed. Results showed that:The species number of aquatic plants was relatively high. There were total 123 species belonged to 43 families and 85 genera,among of which there were about 5 families, 6 genera, 6 species in Pteridophyta, 25 families, 39 genera, 63 species in Dicotyledoneae and 13 families, 40 genera, 54 species in Monocotyledoneae. Hygroryza aristata was first recorded in Anhui Province. Gramineae, Polygonaceae and Cyperaceae were the dominant families. The preponderant genera included Polygonum, Potamogeton and Trapa. The percentage of the genera including only 1 species or 2-4 species accounted for 96.5%. The dominant species were Alternanthera philoxeroides, Phragmites australis, Potamogeton crispus, Trapa sp., Ceratophyllum demersum, and Hydrilla verticillata. At family level, there were 6 distribution types. The proportion of the cosmopolitan type was highest and reached 55.81%, and the tropic elements(11 families) were more than temperate ones(8 families). At genus level, there were 13 distribution types. The cosmopolitan type was 36.47% and the pantropic type was 20.0%. Alpha diversity was highest in the Baishitian River, and was lowest in the Nanfeihe River. Serious water pollution could be the main reason accounting for the lower species diversity in the Nanfeihe River.