Surface samples of five Ultisols (Dothan Red Bay, and Orangeburg from Florida, Manana from Hawaii, and Huangjinni from Zhejiang, China) and one Oxisols (Wahiawa from Hawaii) were used to ascertain the effects lime and organic matter on P adsorption and desorption under flooded condition. Reagent-grade calcium carbonate and ground dry clover tissues were used as lime and organic matter sources. Both lime and clover tissue addition increased soil pH and decreased Eh, but their effects on pH and Eh of the three Florida soils were less than that on other three soils. Flooding reduced the amounts of Al extracted by 0.5 M CuCl₂. Lime and clover treatments further reduced it for the three Florida Ultisols, but the reverse was true for the other three soils. The amendments reduced the P adsorption for the three Florida soils and the order of reduction followed: clover tissues < lime < mixture of clover and lime. The effect was reverse for the other three soils. For the three Florida soils, additions of lime and clover tissues increased the P desorption; for the other three soils, the opposite was true. Phosphorus adsorbed by the flooded soils was significantly related with oxalate-extractbale Fe, Al, and Mn and CuCl₂-extractbale Al, which suggests that the components controled P retention by flooded soils include not only pooly crystalline and amorphous Fe oxides and hydroxides, but also Al-OH polymer and Al bound with organic matter.