260 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 19. 1911; 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



A PERENNIAL RICE FROM SENEGAL. 



Toward the end of the year 1909, parts of the rhizomes 

 (underground stems), and of the roots, as well as the fruits, 

 of a perennial rice, were received at the Jardin Colonial from 

 the district of Kichard-ToU, in Senegal. Investigations 

 carried out with this material are described in L' Agriculture 

 Pratique des F'ti/'S Chanth for April 1911, p. 265, and it is 

 from this description that the information given below is 

 taken. 



An attempt was made to propagate the rice by means of 

 the stalks, and of the pieces of the rhizomes, that had been 

 received. Whether the conditions were unfavourable, or 

 whether the material had become too dry, is not certain; in 

 any case, the attempts to raise the rice in this way were un- 

 successful. Several seeds were then sown, and from these 

 were obtained the material upon which .some of the observa- 

 tions were made. 



After giving reference to instances in botanical litera- 

 ture where perennial rice has been mentioned already, and 

 .pointing out that in all these the main attentio\i was given 

 to the flowers and fruits rather than to the rhizomes, the 

 article goes on to describe the la.st. It appears that the 

 aerial shoots arise most frequently through the adoption of 

 an upright position by the terininal bud of the rhi/.ome, 

 although several lateral branches may be formed. The rhi- 

 zomes bear scale leave.s, provided with axillary buds, which 

 are almost always well developed. The true nature of the 

 underground sterns cannot be doul)ted; they grow in the soil 

 at a depth of at least 2 inches, and are not in the nature 

 of stolons, or runners. Evidence is given to sliow th:it the 

 rhizomes, as well as tufts of stems containing no rhizomes, 

 possess a large vitality, which is closely connected with the 

 circumstance, in the case of the former, of their large starch 

 content. It is the presence of such rhizomes which appears 

 to indicate unmistakably that this rice may be cultivated as 

 a permanent crop. 



After a detailed description is given of other parts of the 

 plant, an account is presented of the grains, which shows 

 that these vary in shape and possess a reddish surface. This 

 reddish colouration is not only found on the fruit, but also 

 in the interior of the stems, on the young axillary buds, on 

 the young sprouts, on the rliizomcs as soon as they reach the 

 light, on the sprouts of nut stems, and also on the young 

 plants. The leaf .sheaths are also reddish within, but this 

 characteristic is not confined to the variety under description: 



it also shows itself in other kinds of rices, 



Diti'erent methods of propagation were tried. In the 

 first, the seedlings from grains .sown during August 1910 

 were pricked out shortly afterwards, and although the condi- 

 tions were very difterent from those of the natural habitat of 

 the plant, specimens were obtained which varied in height 

 from 8 inches to 2 feet. 



In another method, the stems were cut in order to pro- 

 mote the growth of axillary buds; the latter developed 

 rapidly and produced shoots which replaced the original stem. 

 In another way, layering by simple bedding was tried. 

 The plant does not seem to lend itself naturally to this 

 method, and it is necessary to keep the stem in close contact 

 with the soil, when the development of adventitious roots 

 becomes rapid. 



The last method of propagation that was attempted was 

 by means of cuttings of the stalks, similar to those employed 

 in sugar-cane cultivation. Each cutting contained three 

 nodes; they were chosen from both the upper and lower part 

 of the stem. Observations made on these showed that, in 

 the case of the cutting taken from the lower part of the stem, 

 the first roots appeared on the third day of the experiment. 

 On the fifth day, these roots were ^, inch in length, while at 

 the same time the first roots from the cutting taken from the 

 upper part of the stem had only just begun to force their way 

 through it. On the seventh day, both cuttings possessed 

 roots, the length of those on the latter being ./.inch, and on 

 the former .\-inch. 



On the eighth day an axillary bud developed on the 

 cutting taken from the lower part of the stem, to form a stalk, 

 r.y the eleventh, both cuttings were sufficiently provided with 

 roots, and each showed a sprout having a reddish colour. 

 The result of the observations is to show that there is a delay 

 that is of little significance in the formation of roots on cut- 

 tings obtained from the upper part of the stalk. 



It is easy to understand that in its natural surroundings, 

 when cuttings of i the plant have formed roots, their further 

 development is easy, even where they are situated in a strong 

 current of water, for the surrounding vegetation would pre- 

 vent the cuttings from being washed away. It is probable 

 that this method of multiplication is only possible on .sub- 

 merged lands, or during the wet season. 



Tiie article concludes with an account of the anatomical 

 characters of a plant which, it ajipears, should attain eventu- 

 ally an amount of economic significance. 



