The genetic diversity of total 240 acces- sions of common wild rice coming from Gaozhou, Shaoguan, Zhanjiang, and other places in Guang- dong, and Jiangxi, Fujian, Yunnan provinces, etc. in China and South-eastern Asia was evaluated by us- ing 24 pairs of SSR primers. The results indicated that: (i) there were 17 polymorphic loci in 24 pairs of SSR primers, and the average percentage of poly- morphic loci was 69%; the average total number of alleles, the average number of alleles per locus and the average number of alleles per polymorphic loci were 51.1, 2.04 and 2.43, respectively; (ii) the aver- age gene diversity was 0.8447. There were remark- able differentiations among 5 populations of Gaozhou wild rice. All the above-mentioned genetic parame- ters indicated that Gaozhou wild rice of Pengshan Village (or Bei Toudong) of Zhenjiang Town should be a center of genetic differentiation and diversity of Gaozhou wild rice. Gaozhou wild rice is probably the largest center of genetic differentiation and diversity of common wild rice from Guangdong Province, South China and even the whole China. The genetic diversity of 240 accessions in common wild rice coming from Gaozhou, Shaoguan, Zhanjiang, and other places in Guang-dong, and Jiangxi, Fujian, Yunnan provinces, etc. in China and South-eastern Asia was evaluated by us The results indicated that: (i) there were 17 polymorphic loci in 24 pairs of SSR primers, and the average percentage of poly- morphic loci was 69%; the average total number of alleles, the average number of alleles per locus and the average number of alleles per polymorphic loci were 51.1, 2.04 and 2.43, respectively; (ii) the aver-age gene diversity was 0.8447. There were remarkably differentiated among 5 populations of Gaozhou wild rice. the above-mentioned genetic parame- ters indicates that Gaozhou wild rice of Pengshan Village (or Bei Toudong) of Zhenjiang Town should be a center of genetic differentiation and diversity of Gaozhou wild rice. Gaozhou wild rice is probably the largest center of genetic differ entiation and diversity of common wild rice from Guangdong Province, South China and even the whole China.