ORAMIXE^?^. 



291 



number, boat-shaped and fattened, the lower one broader, and tipped 

 with a straight awn; stamens 6 in number; stigmas clothed with 

 hairs. 



1. 0. sativa, L. (Cunuuon Ku-e.) Stem from 2 to 5 feet high, somewhat Hke 

 the cuhu of wheat, with shorter iuteruodes. Leaf liuear, elougated, aud rough. 

 Flowers iu close ])auicles. Branches erect, from 5 to 10 inches long, outer pale, 

 strongly veiued and keeled ; hisi)id ciliate, termiuating iu an awu. Grain 

 white, somewhat fusiform, compressed, slight grooves aud ridges extending 

 lengthwise, one fourth of an inch long, and about an eightli of an inch in 

 diameter. Flowers in July ; fruits iu August and September. 



Besides the sativa, we have the following species : — 



2. 0. praecox, Early Kice. 



3. 0. mutica. The mountain Kice. 



4. 0. glutinosa. Clammy Rice. 



These last three and several others are said to be well-marked and constant 

 species ; but as rice is grown from the seed, it sports freely, and many varieties 

 have arisen. 



Geography. — Rice grows well in all the low lands of the tropics where 

 alternate flooding and drying can be effected, and in the temperate zones as 

 high as the thirty-sixth parallel. In India there 

 is a species, O. coarctata, that grows upon the 

 uplands, and as high above the sea as 4,000 feet. 

 It is extensively cultivated in China, Japan, the 

 East Indies, especially in the southern parts, in 

 Japan and the islands of the Indian Ocean, and in 

 Africa, having been introduced into Egypt in the 

 days of the caliphs. It has in later years been 

 raised sparingly in southern Europe. The moun- 

 tain or upland rice has been successfully grown iu 

 Hungary. It is planted and successfully grown in 

 South America and in the southern United States. 



Eti/mologi/. — The word 07\i/za is Latinized from 

 eruz, an old Arabic or Sanscrit word, which signi- 

 fies " grow," and is supposed to have been applied 

 to this plant on account of its prolific cliaracter. 

 Sativa, the specific name, means " sown," or "cul- 

 tivated." The common name rice is supposed to 

 be a corruption of the botanic name. 



Histori/. — There is no record that reveals tlie 

 time when rice first became a food of the luiman 

 family. It is one of the cereals yearly sown by 

 the Emperor of China ; the first record of such 

 sowing was made in the year 2S00 b. r. The little 

 that is known about its early hi.story points to 

 southern Asia as the land of its nativity. Alex- 

 ander the Great l)rought it to the notice of the 



Greeks on his return froju his expedition to India 330 n. c. Its cultivation 

 in Italy dates fro'm 1468 of the present era. Since anything has been known 

 of Asia, rice has constituted the principal food of all classes in that country 

 uot only on the continent, but also on the adjacent islands. 



OnTZA SATIVA (Rice). 



