Coastal sand dune forests in Central Vietnam are crucial for biodiversity and socioeconomic aspects, but have suffered vegetation loss due to war and overuse. Moreover, these forests characterized by intense radiation, low nutrient, rapid drainage, and frequent drought. Efforts to restore them include planting Acacia crassicarpa and protecting native species in natural forests, however, there is a lack of basic information on eco-physiological traits of these species. Through a pot experiment of seedlings of 11 species (10 native and 1 plantation species) in the nursery, we investigated 21 physiological and morphological traits of these species and compared the overall characteristics of each species using a principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA figured out three main axes accounted for 65.1% of the total variation. The first PC positively correlated with, photosynthetic such as net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance, and diameter relative growth rate, and leaf area and biomass, representing a resource acquisition versus conservation gradient. The second PC positively correlated with biomass and morphological traits such as leaf mass per area and leaf area, indicating the leaf structural investment and biomass allocation of plant. The third PC positively correlated with water use traits such as water potential at turgor loss point and leaf osmotic potential at full turgor and stable carbon isotope ratio, reflecting the drought tolerance. Species clustered into two main functional groups on the first two PCs plane; one group included A. crassicarpa and Melaleuca cajuputi, etc., and showed relatively carbon acquisitive characteristics, and another group included Shorea falcata, Vatica mangachapoi and Litsea glutinosa etc., and showed relatively low water consumption characteristics. These findings provide an important information to select appropriate species for restoration and resilience planning of coastal sand dune forests in Central Vietnam.