Flora Zambesiaca

Taxon Detail

FZ volume:10 part:1 (1971) Gramineae by E. Launert

(Search other Kew databases for: Oryza sativa)

Oryza sativa L.

Sp. Pl. 1: 333 (1753). — Engl., Pflanzenw. Ost-Afr. B: 59, 64 (1895); op. cit., C: 106 (1895). — Rendle in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2,1: 231 (1899). — Monro in Proc. Rhod. Sci. Ass. 6, 1: 60 (1906). — R. E. Fr., Wiss. Ergebn. Schwed. Rhod.-Kong. Exped. 1: 205 (1916). — Stent in Bothalia, 1, 4: 275 (1924). — Sturgeon, Rev. List. Grass. S. Rhod. in Rhod. Agric. Journ. 51: 213 (1954). — Chippindall in Meredith, Grass. & Pastures of S. Afr.: 32 (1955). — Jackson & Wiehe, Annot. Check List Nyasal. Grass.: 68 (1958). — Tateoka in Bot. Mag. Tokyo, 75: 418, 455, 456, 460 (1962); op. cit .76: 168 (1963). — Berhaut, Fl. Sénégal: 416 (1967). — W. D. Clayton in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 28, fig. 10 no. 7 (1970). TAB. 8 fig. E. Type from India?

Distribution:

Mozambique

N: Mogovolas, Posto Agricola, 9.vi.1934, Ribeiro (LISC).

Range:

tropics and subtropics throughout the world

Description:

An annual or rarely short-lived perennial of variable habit. Culms 45-180 cm. tall, 3-many-noded (up to 20), 6-8 mm. in diam., erect or ascending from a geniculate base, terete, hollow, smooth, glabrous. Leaf-sheath coarsely striate, tight when young, later somewhat loose, often somewhat spongy, green or sometimes tinged with brown or purple, smooth, glabrous; the lowest usually longer, the upper shorter than the internodes. Ligule (1·25)1·5-3 cm. long, triangular, acute, entire or split, usually glabrous, sometimes tinged with pink, purple or brown in some varieties or strains. Leaf-laminae 12-65 x 0·4 — 1·75 cm., linear, tapering to an acute point, bright green to glaucous, rather flaccid, glabrous or puberulous, rarely scattered with short hairs, smooth on the lower, asperulous on the upper surface; midrib usually distinct. Panicle up to 50 cm. long, erect, curved or drooping, very variable in density; rhachis obtusely angular, smooth, glabrous or scattered hairy; branches solitary or clustered, forming a variable angle with the rhachis (from being nearly erect to spreading), angular, scabrous. Pedicels up to 4 mm. long, stout, scabrous. Spikelets 8-11 x 2·5-3·5 mm., not deciduous (the articulation to the pedicel is usually completely solidified but there are, however, some strains in which the spikelets fall off at maturity), obliquely attached to the pedicel, very variable in shape, asymmetrically oblong to elliptic-oblong in lateral view. Glumes (the narrow rim at the base of the spikelet) varying in colour from pale white to yellow, purple or black. Sterile lemmas about equal in shape and size, usually 2-3 mm. long (very rarely up to 1/2 the length of the spikelet in certain forms “winged varieties”), lanceolate, acute, glossy. Fertile lemma as described for O. barthii, sometimes coloured, usually awnless, sometimes awned (the awn often purple-pink, more rarely colourless). Paleas as described for O. barthii. Sexual organs and caryopsis similar to those of O. barthii.

Notes:

For a complete synonomy of this cultivated species see Tateoka in Bot. Mag. Tokyo 76: 168 (1963): for infraspecific classification see Portères in Journ. Agric. Trop. 3: 341, 541, 627, 821 (1956).