The most effective way for desertification combating and ecological restoration is the vegetation rehabilitation. However, we have less knowledge on the growth of plant species such as Artemisia species grown in desertificated grasslands in North-East Asia. We investigated the growth responses to water stress of A. frigida, A. halodendron, A. ordosica, A. sphaerocephala. Water stress restrained the growth of all species, while the decline degree was different among species. The RGR of A. ordosica or A. sphaerocephala decreased remarkably by water stress, due to a decrease in NAR. The SLA of A. frigida decreased slightly with increasing water stress, which suggested an increase in leaf thickness. The three species except A. frigida increased the root/shoot ratio with increasing water stress, particularly A. ordosica. This indicated that more assimilates were distributed to root under water-stressed condition. Characteristics of species to drought were classified by cluster analysis, and distinguished 1) species changing an assimilate distribution, 2) species changing a leaf shape, and 3) species changing a net assimilation rate. These might be adaptive characteristics for plants to survive in arid/semi-arid region where water deficiency occurred frequently.