Through a pot culture lanthanum nitrate was applied to maize seedlings grown in a red loamy soil to investigate the physiological and toxic effects of added La on the growth of crop seedlings and La bioaccumulation to help understand the environmental chemistry behaviors of rare earth element as fertilizers in soils. Compared to the control, La concentrations in shoots and especially in roots of maize seedlings increased with an increase of La in the soil. Also, with added concentrations of La≥0.75 g La kg-1 soil and≥0.05 g La kg-1 soil, the dry weight of shoots and roots of maize seedlings was significantly reduced (P≤0.05), respectively, compared with the control. Additionally, La≥0.5 g kg-1 in the soil significantly inhibited (P≤0.05) primary root elongation. Roots were more sensitive to La stress than shoots and thus could be used as a biomarker to La stress. Overall, in the red loamy soil studied, La had no significant beneficial effects on the growth of maize at the added La levels above 0.1 g kg-1 soil. Through a pot culture lanthanum nitrate was applied to maize seedlings grown in a red loamy soil to investigate the physiological and toxic effects of added La on the growth of crop seedlings and La bioaccumulation to help understand the environmental chemistry behaviors of rare earth element as fertilizers in soils. Compared to the control, La concentrations in shoots and especially in roots of maize seedlings increased with an increase of La in the soil. Also, with added concentrations of La ≧ 0.75 g La kg-1 soil and ≧ 0.05 g La kg- 1, the dry weight of shoots and roots of maize seedlings was significantly reduced (P ≦ 0.05), respectively, compared with the control. elongation. Roots were more sensitive to La stress than shoots and could could be used as a biomarker to La stress. Overall, in the red loamy soil studied, La had no significant beneficial effects on the growth of maize at the add ed La levels above 0.1 g kg-1 soil.