Botany of the Wild and Cultivated Rices

Abstract

ALTHOUGH much work has been done on the widely cultivated species of rice (Oryza sativa Linn.) for its improvement as an agricultural crop, it must be admitted that our knowledge of its morphology and taxonomy and its relationship to other wild species of the genus is comparatively meagre. The term ‘wild rice’ as employed here is used to indicate all other species which conform by their technical characters to the generic definition of Oryza, and which grow spontaneously in a wild state. The two cultivated species are the well-known Oryza sativa Linn, and the less known Oryza glaberrima Steud. (cultivated in west tropical Africa). In tropical countries where these species are extensively cultivated, it is unfortunate that a comprehensive account of the rice plant with a proper interpretation of al the structures, its evolution and domestication by man is not generally given in text-books on botany and tropical agriculture. This omission makes its study uninteresting and often vague. The aim this note is to put together some of these much-needed data with a suitable list for further reference.