The leaf is the largest organ that plants expose to the environment; it is sensitive to environmental changes and its plastic morphology can adapt to different environments. This study explored the leaf morphological plasticity of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa in response to natural drought gradient ecotopes to elucidate the mechanism of leaf plasticity response to different environments caused by climate change. Leaves were sampled from Yantai and Shijiazhuang cities and Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces of China that formed a drought gradient environment according to their soil moisture, annual precipitation, and humidity coefficients. Epidermal hair was distributed on the leaf surface, and cuticle and waxiness covered the surface of the epidermis. Mesophyll was all palisade tissue because the spongy tissue was degraded , but beyond that, there were a large number of stomata and secretory cells distributed into mesophyll. From Yantai to Xinjiang, with drought stress increasing sharply, the leaf area gradually became significantly smaller while leaf thickness became significantly greater. The thickness of cuticle on the leaf epidermis was increased and the cuticle on the upper epidermis was thicker than that on the lower epidermis. The long and short diameters of both upper and lower epidermis cells were first increased and then decreased. Total thickness and density of palisade tissue and the long diameter of palisade cells in each pile were increased, but the number of piles was decreased. The thickness of parenchymal cells in leaf veins was decreased. The diameter of the vessel was not significantly increased; however,the number of crystals (calcium oxalate) was significantly increased. Within different natural drought gradient ecotopes,the response of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa was to reduce transpiration and water loss through decreased leaf area and increased palisade tissue density, leaf thickness, and cuticle thickness; to enhance water use efficiency by increasing the diameter of vessels; to increase leaf hardness by increasing the number of crystals; and to improve water uptake and retaining capacity by changing cell osmotic potential. All of these changes in the leaf morphology of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosas were ecological adaptations necessary to tolerate different natural drought ecotopes over the long period. In conclusion, the leaf area, leaf thickness, cuticle, and mesophyll tissue showed significant plasticity in different ecotopes.