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<i>Broussonetia papyrifera</i> is a widely distributed economic tree species, and it is also a pioneer species in adverse environments. In order to investigate the growth and adaptation mechanism of <i>B. papyrifera</i> under cadmium (Cd) contaminated soil, potted experiments were used with six-month treatments to study Cd enrichment and the transportation, morphological and physiological characteristics of <i>B. papyrifera</i> tissues. The results showed that Cd mainly accumulated in the root when the Cd concentration was high (14.71 mg/kg), and the root biomass was significantly reduced by Cd stress although Cd promoted the growth of seedlings. The bioconcentration factors (BCF) increased with the increase in Cd concentration, and reached the maximum value of 0.21 at 14.71 mg/kg. On the contrary, translocation factor (TF) decreased significantly at 8.28–14.71 mg/kg Cd concentration. Cd not only led to the loose arrangement of the xylem vessels of leaves, but also changed the chlorophyll content. However, <i>B. papyrifera</i> could synthesize organic solutes such as soluble protein, soluble sugar and proline to reduce the intracellular osmotic potential. Our study proved that <i>B. papyrifera</i> has good tolerance to Cd stress and is a pioneer tree species for soil and ecological environment restoration.