Tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) decreases photosynthesis, growth, and yield of crop plants, while elevated carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has the opposite effect. The net photosynthetic rate (P N ), dark respiration rate (R D ), and ascorbic acid content of rice leaves were examined under combinations of O 3 (0, 0.1, or 0.3 cm 3 m -3 , expressed as O 0 , O 0.1 , O 0.3 , respectively) and CO 2 (400 or 800 cm 3 m -3 , expressed as C 400 or C 800 , respectively). The P N declined immediately after O 3 fumigation, and was larger under O 0.3 than under O 0.1 . When C 800 was combined with the O 3 , P N was unaffected by O 0.1 and there was an approximately 20 % decrease when the rice leaves were exposed to O 0.3 for 3 h. The depression of stomatal conductance (g s ) observed under O 0.1 was accelerated by C 800 , and that under O 0.3 did not change because the decline under O 0.3 was too large. . Excluding the stomatal effect, the mesophyll P N was suppressed only by O 0.3 , but was substantially ameliorated when C 800 was combined. Ozone fumigation boosted the R D value, whereas C 800 suppressed it. An appreciable reduction of ascorbic acid occurred when the leaves were fumigated with O 0.3 , but the reduction was partially ameliorated by C 800 . The degree of visible leaf symptoms coincided with the effect of the interaction between O 3 and CO 2 on P N . The amelioration of O 3 injury by elevated CO 2 was largely attributed to the restriction of O 3 intake by the leaves with stomatal closure, and partly to the maintenance of the scavenge system for reactive oxygen species that entered the leaf mesophyll, as well as the promotion of the P N .