The fatty acid composition of phospholipid from the leaves of rice plants grown at 28℃ and harvested at the 3-4 leaf stage was determined for 8 cultivars. Change among cultivars observed in the composition has been found to be correlative to the chilling susceptivity of the plants at the given leaf-stage. The chilling-resistant cultivars contain phospholipid with higher degree of unsaturation and larger relative proportion of unsaturated fatty acids than the chilling-sensitive ones. `The indices for unsaturation of phospholipid from a cultic-ar are well in accordance with its resistance to cold damage. clearly demonstrating that the fluidity of biomembrane which is generally regarded as the prerequisite for a cell to maintain its membrane-related physiological activity at a low temperature is exclusively controlled by the fatty acid composition of phospholipid. Also identified were the components of phospholipid, which are phosphatidyl serine and phosphatidyl coline as major components and phosphatidyl inositol as minor component plus 3 phospholipids in trace proportion, from every cultivar at the early growth-stage.