Changes

*Rice, paddy, Asian rice, Asiatic rice (En). *Riz, riz asiatique (Fr). *Arroz (Po). *Mpunga (Sw).

*Annual grass up to 1.8 m tall (up to 5 m long in some floating types), forming small tufts; roots fibrous, arising from the base of the shoots; stem (culm) erect or ascending from a geniculate base, terete, smooth, glabrous. *Leaves alternate, simple; sheath coarsely striate, tight when young, later somewhat loose, often somewhat spongy, green or sometimes tinged with brown or purple, smooth, glabrous; ligule 1.5–3 cm long, triangular, acute, entire or split, membranous, usually glabrous; auricles often present, falcate, 1–5 mm long, hairy; blade linear, tapering to an acute point, 12–65 cm × 0.5–2 cm, bright green to glaucous, glabrous or puberulous, smooth on the lower surface, slightly rough on the upper surface, midrib usually distinct. *Inflorescence a terminal panicle up to 50 cm long, erect, curved or drooping, with 50–500 spikelets; branches solitary or clustered, nearly erect to spreading. *Spikelet solitary, asymmetrically oblong to elliptical-oblong, 7–11 mm × 2.5–3.5 mm, with pedicel up to 4 mm long, 3-flowered but 2 lowest florets reduced to sterile lemmas 2–3 mm long; glumes small; lemma of fertile floret 6–10 mm long, boat-shaped, sometimes awned; palea about as long as lemma; lodicules 2; stamens 6; ovary superior, with 2 plumose stigmas. *Fruit a caryopsis (grain), ovoid, ellipsoid or cylindrical, 5–7.5 mm × 2–3.5 mm, often whitish yellow or brown to brownish grey.

– * Upland rice, which may be subdivided into dryland rice, whereby moisture supply is entirely dependent on rainfall, and hydromorphic rice where the rooting zone is periodically saturated by a fluctuating water table, in addition to rainfall;

– * Lowland rice, including mangrove swamp rice along the coastal regions with tidal intrusion, inland swamp rice on flat or V-shaped valley bottoms with varying degrees of flooding, and rice on bunded fields under rainfed or irrigated conditions;

– * Deepwater rice, in which the rapid growth of the internodes keeps pace with the rising water up to 5 m or more, starting from 50 cm of standing water.

* H.C.C. Meertens , Pomona 250, 6708 CJ Wageningen, Netherlands

Meertens, H.C.C., 2006. '''Oryza sativa''' L. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. In: Brink, M. & Belay, G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.