216 CLASSIFICATION OF RICE 



Pashar and Bed Faahar (Kaipur), iii marshy places and as weeds in 

 the rice fields ' Pashi ' and ' Sada ' (Jubbulpore), Tan, Kala, Karanga 

 and KarcDiga Pasliar (Raipur) and 'Parsad,' of which there is an early 

 and a late variety, from Chanda. The most important distinction 

 between the wild rice and the cultivated is that the spikelets, when 

 the grain is mature, are very deciduous. They are usually stoutly 

 awned and have a dark red grain. The wild rices growing in tanks 

 are usually tall, having the powers of adapting themselves to the 

 depth of water in which they grow, and their grain takes longer to 

 mature. The grain of the wild rices is harvested by Goiids and 

 Dhimars who tie the rice plants into clumps and thus prevent 

 the grain falling. The grain is sold to the poorer classes and 

 is also usetl by devout Hindus on fast days (Upass) and on the 

 ' Harchhat ' festival. 



The awned wild rices seem to agree with Oryza sativa var. 

 IcUua, Prain.(3) A wild rice from Raipur with a dirty white 

 grain and an awnless wild rice from Bhandara ajjpear to be culti- 

 vated rices and run wild. Watt (4) records the discovery by Duthie 

 of 0. officinalis. Wall, syn. 0. lati folia, Desv., in Chanda. This wild 

 rice differs from the others in having multiveined leaves. Its 

 occurrence is reported from Allapilli and Sironcha. As already 

 mentioned the occurence of " Tari,' whose grains do not fall down, 

 mixed with many varieties from Raipur, suggests the occurrence of 

 natural cross-polhnation. 



11. — C'LAS-SlFiCATlON. 



Preliminarfj. — The most recent publication on the classification 

 of rice is the work of S. Kikkawa.(5) In this work two schemes 

 of classification are given. The first divides the rices according 

 to their agricultural characters, the second by the characters of the 

 grain. ( )nly the second is applied in classifying the Burmese rices. 

 An older classification of rice, based solely on the grain characters, 

 occurs in the " Handbuch des Getreides " by K. Koernicke.(6) 



The use of agricultural characters in a scheme of classification 

 demands a considerable amount of caution. In the rice plant we 



