Abstract: By using scanning electron microscope（SEM），transmission electron microscope（TEM） and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR），anatomical structure and chemical composition of tender prickles from rose‘Queen Elizabeth’were studied. The results were shown as follows：（1）Prickles could be divided into different parts in organizational level. The surface of prickles was cornified and covered with thick wax. The cells of epidermis，with thicker cell wall and larger cellular cavity，were square，densely arranged and smaller in shape. Abut against the epidermis layer，there were one or two layers similar to the meristematic cells of cambium，the cells of which were small，orderly arranged. Then inward five to seven layers were made up of enlonged cells which had porous columnar structure in their cell lumens. In the center of prickles，the parechyma cell group existed，and made up of large，round，thin-walled cells which arranged loosely.（2）At the bottom of prickles，resembling abscission zone existed，which included 3–5 layers of cells. However，in micromorphology，cells in the region were different from cells of the petiole abscission zone. There were more plasmodesmata，chloroplast， mitochondrion，endoplasmic reticulum and intercellular space in the former one. Futhermore，under ethephon treatment，resembling abscission zone of prickles formed no abscission layer and caused no prickle fallen off.（3）Prickles mainly consisted of lignin，suberin，cellulose and hemicelluloses. The content of lignin and suberin in external tissue was higher than which in internal tissue，while the content came to be less in the upper tissue of the prickle resembling abscission zone than the one beneath it.

Key words: rose, prickle, anatomical structure, abscission zone, chemical composition