Abstract: Soybean cultivars, Heinong 26(with high yield and low photosynthetic rate), Heinong 40 and Heinong 41(with high yield and high photosynthetic rate), were used as materials in this research. The anatomy of functional leaves and petiole of soybean in different development stages was studied. The results show that: (1) The structure of mesophyll varied in varieties.The thickness of leaf was successively Heinong 40>Heinong 41>Heinong 26.The tendency in different stages was basically the same. (2) The thickness and cell layers of palisade tissue were consistent with the thickness of leaf. The number of chloroplast in palisade tissue was more than that in spongy tissue and in the cultivars with high yield and high photo synthetic rate was more than that in the high yield and low photosynthetic rate ones. Structures of thylakoids in grana and stroma of chloroplast in varieties with high photosynthetic rate were better than those in the varieties with low photosynthetic rate. (3) Stoma includes two factors which are the size and the number. The sizes of stoma in all cultivars were similar. The number of stoma on the lower epidermis of leaf was more than that on the upper epodermis and in the cultivars with high photosynthetic rate was more than that in the cultivar with low photosynthetic rate. (4) The number of hadromestome catheter in vascular bundle of main leaf vein was in the order of Heinong 41>Heinong 40>Heinong 26.