As the special ecotone from the closed forest line to the tree limit in alpine zone, timberline is highly vulnerable to climate change, and the trees near the timberline are very sensitive to environmental change. Sabina przewalskii is the dominant tree species in alpine ecosystems in the northeast Tibetan Plateau, mainly distributed at dry south-facing and infertile slopes. To test the response patterns of the leaf functional traits in Sabina przewalskii along the environmental gradient near the alpine timberline, the following items were measured : leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf mass per unit area (LMA), leaf stable carbon isotope composition (delta~(13)C), leaf carbon content per unit mass (C_(mass)), leaf nitrogen content per unit mass (N_(mass)), leaf carbon -nitrogen ratio (C/N), leaf free water content (FW) and the ratio of leaf free water content and leaf bound water content (FW/BW) in Sabina przewalskii on the west-facing and east-facing slopes near timberline of the Qaidam Basin in the northeast Tibetan Plateau. It is found that N_(mass), FW and FW/BW of Sabina przewalskii located in the sites of treeline and tree species line were higher than that in the sites of closed forest, while that of LDMC and C/N showed the opposite patterns, even LMA, delta~(13)C and C_(mass) had no remarkable changes in near timberline of both west-facing and east-facing slopes. Meanwhile, LMA only changed significantly near timberline in west-facing slope. In addition, FW was positively related with LDMC and N_(mass), and negatively related with FW/BW. Negative relationships between LMA and C_(mass), N_(mass) and C/N were also found. Overall, these results indicated that Sabina przewalskii as a drought and cold tolerant native tree species in the alpine ecosystem mainly accommodates the harsh environment by the way of higher leaf free water content, photosynthetic capacity and some nitrogenous compounds.