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The spikelet developmental processes that control structure and floral organ identity play critical roles in rice grain yield formation. In this study, we characterized a novel rice mutant, <i>SLL1-ZH</i>, which exhibits a variety of defective agronomic characters, including semi-dwarf, rolling leaf, deformed panicles, and reduced grains production. Morphological analysis also revealed that the <i>SLL1-ZH</i> mutant shows numerous defects of floral organs, such as cracked glumes, hooked and thin lemmas, shrunken but thickened paleas, an indeterminate number of stamens and stigmas, and heterotopic ovaries. Map-based cloning identified a single nucleotide substitution (C to G) in the first exon of <i>LOC_Os09g23200</i> that is responsible for the <i>SLL1-ZH</i> phenotype. In addition, qPCR analysis showed a significant change in the relative expression of <i>SLL1-ZH</i> in the mutant during inflorescence differentiation and in the different floral organs. Transcription of rice floral organ development-related factors also changed significantly in the mutant. Therefore, our results suggested that <i>SLL1-ZH</i> plays a great role in plant growth, spikelet development, and grain yield in rice.