''Oryza barthii'', also called Barth's rice, wild rice, or African wild rice, is a grass in the

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

genus ''

Oryza ''Oryza'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. It includes the major food crop rice (species ''Oryza sativa'' and ''Oryza glaberrima''). Members of the genus grow as tall, wetland grasses, growing to tall; the genus includes both annual an ...

''. It is an annual, erect to semierect grass. It has leaves with a short

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

(<), and

panicles A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are o ...

that are compact to open, rarely having secondary branching. The inflorescence structure are large

spikelets A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that ...

, long and wide, with strong awns (up to long), usually red. The inflorescences have anthers long. This wild rice grows in sub-Saharan Africa, and is found in

mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern A ...

or savanna woodland,

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

or fadama. ''O. barthii'' grows in deep water, seasonally flooded land, stagnant water, and slowly flowing water or pools; it prefers

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

or black cotton soils (

vertisol A vertisol, or vertosol, is a soil type in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternat ...

), and is found in open habitats. It is the progenitor of cultivated ''

Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown in West Africa around 3,000 years ago. In agriculture, it has largely been replaced by higher-yielding Asian ri ...

'', African rice. It has nodal roots hosting

nitrogen fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the Atmosphere of Earth, air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but al ...

photosynthetic Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in c ...

strains of ''

Bradyrhizobium ''Bradyrhizobium'' is a genus of Gram-negative soil bacteria, many of which fix nitrogen. Nitrogen fixation is an important part of the nitrogen cycle. Plants cannot use atmospheric nitrogen (N2); they must use nitrogen compounds such as nitrat ...

''. The sequenced genome of ''O. barthii'' was published in 2014. This species is one of the AA species, the domesticated rices and their wild relatives.

Distribution

''O. barthii'' is primarily found in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

References

External links

barthii Grasses of Africa Cereals Taxa named by Auguste Chevalier {{Poaceae-stub