The stem morphology and anatomical structure of rice, as well as their relationship with lodging resistance, were studied with six super hybrid rice varieties as the tested materials. The results showed that the rice varieties with stronger lodging resistance were characterized by shorter basal elongated internodes and thicker stem base. The lodging index of hybrid rice was positively correlated with the lengths of the first, second and third basal elongated internodes （P〈0.01） and was negatively correlated with the thickness of basal stem wall and the number and area of small vascular bundles, the area of large vascular bundles and the total area of vascular bundles of the second basal elongated internode （P〈0.05）. The correlations between lodging index and plant height, maximum culm diameter of stem base and minimum culm diameter of stem base were not significant. It indi- cates that the lodging resistance of super hybrid rice can be improved by shorten- ing the length of basal elongated internodes, thickening the wall of stem base and increasing the number and area of vascular bundles of basal elongated internodes.
