The rice stunted lemma/palea 1 (slp1) mutant displays dwarf, shorten panicle length, seriously degenerated lemma/palea, and sterility. Previous study suggested that a missense mutation at the sixth amino acid of the OsSPL16 protein was likely responsible for the slp1 mutant phenotypes. The current study showed that overexpression of the wild-type OsSPL16 allele in the slp1/slp1 and Slp1/slp1 mutants were unable to convert the slp1 mutant phenotype to normal. However, introduction of the mutant OsSPL16 allele into a normal rice cultivar resulted in the slp1 mutant phenotypes displayed in the transgenic plants. These results concluded the missense mutation of OsSPL16 is the slp1 mutant allele and a neomorph allele which affects plant height and development of inflorescence and spikelet.