The species diversity of Calanthe R. Br. is rich. However， under the influence of global warming， extreme high temperature weather frequently occurs， which exacerbates the harm of abiotic stress on the survival and reproduction of Calanthe. In this study， six species of Calanthe were analyzed for heat tolerance via applying means of high-temperature semi-lethal physiological experiments. Calanthe argenteostriata C. Z. Tang & S. J. Cheng and C. tricarinata Lindl.， which were identified to be heat tolerant or sensitive， respectively， were used for transcriptome sequencing and identification of differentially-expressed genes （DEGs） under heat stress treatment conditions. In addition， their transcriptional profiles at different temperatures were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR technology. The research results were included： （1） The heat tolerance of six species of Calanthe is ranked from weak to strong： C. tricarinata Lindl.， C. graciliflora Hayata， C. triplicata（Willem.）Ames， C. herbacea Lindl.， C. sinica Z. H. Tsi， C. argenteostriata C. Z. Tang & S. J. Cheng. （2） Gene families responsible to heat stress were identified， including HSP， HSF， LEA， XTH， TIL. （3） In C. tricarinata Lindl.， the up-regulated expression threshold of DEGs was 30 ℃， and the temperature over 30℃ might cause heat damage. In C. argenteostriata C. Z. Tang & S. J. Cheng， nine DEGs were highly expressed at 40 ℃， possibly resulting in an improvement of tolerance to heat stress. This study explored the response of Calanthe to heat stress at the molecular level， provided important clues for identifying key genes of heat tolerance and cultivating garden heat tolerant plants， which might provide reference in modern garden breeding.