Asian Watergrass

Description

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 1-2 m tall; the genus includes both annual and perennial species. Oryza is situated in tribe Oryzeae, which is characterized morphologically by its single-flowered spikelets whose glumes are almost completely suppressed. In Oryza, two sterile lemma simulate glumes. The tribe Oryzeae is in subfamily Ehrhartoideae, a group of Poaceae tribes with certain features of internal leaf anatomy in common. The most distinctive leaf characteristics of this subfamily are the arm cells and fusoid cells found in their leaves. One species, Asian rice (O. sativa), provides 20% of global grain and is a food crop of major global importance. The species are divided into two subgroups within the genus.