Oryza barthii, also called Barth's rice,[3]wild rice,[4] or African wild rice,[5] is a grass in the
rice genus Oryza. It is an annual, erect to semierect grass. It has leaves with a short
ligule (<13 millimetres (33⁄64 in)), and
panicles that are compact to open, rarely having secondary branching. The inflorescence structure are large
spikelets, 7.7–12.3 millimetres (39⁄128–31⁄64 in) long and 2.3–3.5 millimetres (23⁄256–35⁄256 in) wide, with strong awns (up to 20 centimetres (8 in) long), usually red. The inflorescences have anthers 1.5–3 millimetres (15⁄256–15⁄128 in) long.
This wild rice grows in sub-Saharan Africa, and is found in
mopane or savanna woodland,
savanna or
fadama. O. barthii grows in deep water, seasonally flooded land, stagnant water, and slowly flowing water or pools; it prefers
clay or black cotton soils (
vertisol), and is found in open habitats.[6] It is the progenitor of cultivated Oryza glaberrima, African rice.[7][8]
The sequenced genome of O. barthii was published in 2014.[10] This species is one of the
AA species, the domesticated rices and
their wild relatives.[8]
^USDA, NRCS (n.d.).
"Oryza barthii". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 25 July 2015.