Cuttings of Populus kangdingensis C. Wang et Tung and Populus cathayana Rehder were examined during a single growing season in a greenhouse for comparative analysis of their physiological and proteomic responses to drought stress. The said species originate from high and low altitudes, respectively, of the eastern Himalaya. Results revealed that the adaptive responses to drought stress vary between the two poplar species. As a consequence of drought stress, the stem height increment and leaf number increment are more significantly inhibited in P. cathayana compared with P. kangdingensis. On the other hand, in response to drought stress, more significant cellular damages such as reduction in leaf relative water content and CO(2) assimilation rate, increments in the contents of malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide and downregulation or degradation of proteins related to photosynthesis occur in P. cathayana compared with P. kangdingensis. On the other hand, P. kangdingensis can cope better with the negative impact on the entire regulatory network. This includes more efficient increases in content of solute sugar, soluble protein and free proline and activities of antioxidant enzymes, as well as specific expressions of certain proteins related to protein processing, redox homeostasis and sugar metabolism. Morphological consequences as well as physiological and proteomic responses to drought stress between species revealed that P. kangdingensis originating from a high altitude manifest stronger drought adaptation than did P. cathayana originating from a low altitude. Functions of various proteins identified by proteomic experiment are related with physiological phenomena. Physiological and proteomic responses to drought stress in poplar may work cooperatively to establish a new cellular homeostasis, allowing poplar to develop a certain level of drought tolerance.