The objective of this study was to morpho-anatomically characterize embryogenic rice calli during early induction of somatic embryogenesis of three Brazilian rice cultivars. Herein, we explored embryogenic units (EUs) from 2-week-old cut proliferated calli to verify whether they were suitable for Agrobacterium tumefasciens-mediated transformation. Histological analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze these types of calli during early rice callogenesis in the cultivars BRS Primavera, BRS Bonança, and BRS Caiapó. The characteristics of the embryogenic cells were preserved in the EUs, which showed a globular, compact structure that contained tightly packed cells and thus rendered the cells suitable for transformation. The EUs of BRS Caiapó also maintained the characteristics of the non-embryogenic callus, such as an elongated morphology and a lack of cellular organization. In general, the observations of the histological sections corresponded with those of the SEM images. The histological analysis suggested that all cultivars used in these experiments have morphogenic potential. The EUs from proliferated 2-week-old cut calli maintained their embryogenic features. The EUs were subjected to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, which exhibited a regeneration frequency of 58 % for transformed hygromycin-resistant cell lines. These results show that EUs from proliferated 2-week-old cut calli are suitable for plant transformation.