The changes of photosynthetic properties and cell microstructure in peanut leaves during leaf senescence were studied with two high-yielding peanut cultivars (cv. Luhua11 and Fu8707). The main results showed that during the whole process of leaf growth and senescence, changes in the photosynthesis rate (Pn)and contents of chlorophyll in leaves, could be described with a parabolic function, y = A + Bx + Cx2 (where y refers to the values of the above parameters and x to the days after leaf unfolding). During peanut leaf senescence, the shape of chloroplast changed gradually from long ellipses to circles. The starch globule in chloroplast altered gradually from more and larger sizes to fewer and smaller, but the oil globule from fewer and smaller to more and larger. The grana lamellae varied progressively: from thinness and length to thickness and shortness; from ranking along the long axle direction of chloroplast to disorderly arrangment and finally blurring.At last, the membrane envelope of chloroplast broke, so the inclusion seeped out to the cell and the chloroplast broke up.