The in vitro inhibitory effect of trihydroxybenzoic acid dimer(TAD) extracted from Trapabispinosd roxb on HeLa cell growth was investigated via the MTT[3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diophenyl-tetrazolium bromide] reduction method. The morphological changes of HeLa cells were observed by means of an optical microscope and a transmission electron microscope(TEM); the cell circles and apoptosis were detected by a flow cytometer. It was found that TAD can significantly inhibit the growth of Hela cells and can induce the apoptosis of HeLa cells. It was also found that the inhibition to the growth of Hela cells and the induction to the apoptosis of HeLa cells have a dosage-dependent feature. The inhibiting rates of TAD with mass concentrations of 25.000, 12.500 and 6.250 mg/L to the HeLa cell growth were 52.04%, 34.44% and 23.72% after 30 h, respectively, while those with TAD mass concentrations of 100.000, 50.000, 25.000, 12.500, 6.250 and 3.125 mg/L showed positive correlation with a correlation coefficient value of r=0.9859(P＜0.01) and a IC50 value of 10.90 mg/L. Observed by means of TEM, the HeLa cells exposed to 25.000, 12.500 and 6.250 mg/L TAD showed apoptosis to various extents, shrinkage of the cell nuclei, condensation and margination of chromatin, and cavitation of mitochondrion. An apoptosis peak was detected via a flow cytometer. It can be drawn from the results that TAD extracted from Trapabispinosd roxb has an evident inhibitory effect on the proliferation of and an inductive effect on the apoptosis of HeLa cells, but has no obvious arrest action towards the cell circles of HeLa cells.