Abstract:UAV multispectral technology was demonstrated to facilitate rapid and accurate acquisition of growth parameters for Cinnamomum camphora (L.) presl var. linaloolifera Fujita, providing technical support for precision management of its dwarf forests. Cinnamomum camphora dwarf forests in the southern red soil region were investigated. Multispectral canopy remote sensing images were acquired by using a multispectral camera, while field measurements were conducted to obtain leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), leaf area index (LAI), and above-ground biomass (AGB) data. A comprehensive growth monitoring index (CGMI) was then constructed through the entropy weight method. Six machine learning algorithms, support vector machine (SVM), back propagation neural network (BPNN), radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), were employed to invert SPAD, LAI, AGB, and CGMI values of Cinnamomum camphora. The inversion accuracy of single indices and the CGMI model was compared, and the optimal model was selected. The results demonstrated that all CGMI-based inversion models outperformed single-index models. The test set coefficient of determination (R2) ranged from 0.614 to 0.862, while the root mean square error (RMSE) ranged from 0.074 to 0.953. Among CGMI inversions, the XGBoost model achieved the highest accuracy (R2 was 0.862, RMSE was 0.092). In conclusion, CGMI inversion accurately assessed the growth status of Cinnamomum camphora dwarf forests, with XGBoost being the optimal model. The research result can provide a reference for UAV multispectral-based growth monitoring of such forests.