291 ORYZA SATIVA 



length of the grain, from narrowly ovoid to nearly spherical, and 

 in its colour, which may be quite white, or black, or red, or 

 mottled with brown ; the pales also vary in colour, in hairiness, 

 and greatly in the length of the awn. 



Roxburgh, PL Ind., ii, p. 206; Moon, Cat. PL Ceylon, p. 26; 

 Roemer & Schultes, Syst. Yeg., vii, p. 1363; Kunth, Enum. 

 Plant., i, p. 7; Steudel, Synopsis Gram., p. 3; De Candolle, 

 Geogr. Bot., p. 941 ; Bretschneider, on the Study of Chinese 

 Botanical Works, pp. 8, 9. 



Official Parts and Names. 1. ORYZA; the husked seeds: 

 2. ORYZ^J FARINA ; the Flour procured from the seeds (I. P.). 

 It is not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharma- 

 copoeia of the United States. 



1. ORYZA. Rice. Rice in the state in which it is official in the 

 Pharmacopoeia of India, and ordinarily seen in commerce, may 

 be described as varying in length from about one tenth to a quarter 

 of an inch, as translucent, white, oblong-cylindrical in form, 

 furrowed, blunt at both extremities, brittle, without odour, and 

 with a mild demulcent taste. The varieties of Rice are very 

 numerous ; those most esteemed in this country are 'Carolina and 

 Patna. Rice as described above, is called Bras by the Malays ; 

 and when enclosed in the husk, in which state it is also found, it 

 is termed Paddy. 



2. ORYZ^ FARINA. Rice Flour. This is the flour procured 

 from the seeds ; it is commonly known in commerce under the 

 name of ground rice. 



Rice has been repeatedly analysed ; it contains essentially the 

 same constituents as the other cereal grains, namely, starch, 

 gluten and other nitrogenous substances, fatty matters, various 

 inorganic constituents, &c. The proportion of starch in rice has 

 been estimated as varying from about 85 to nearly 90 per cent. 

 The granules of rice starch are remarkable as being amongst 

 the smallest of all known starch granules, being frequently under 

 _j__ of an inch in length. The proportion of nitrogenous con- 

 stituents is about 7 per cent. ; and of fatty matters O80 per cent. 

 From a comparison with other cereal grains rice contains a larger 



