ORYZA SATIVA 



207 



aquatica), and wild rice {Zizania miliacea). Both are tall 

 aquatic grasses belonging to the same tribe (Oryzeae) as 

 cultivated rice. Both species of Zizania differ from Oryza 

 in having monoecious spikelets. 



Uses of Rice.— Rice is a food for more human beings than 

 is any other grain. It is the principal food of the densely 

 populated regions of China, India, and the neighboring 

 islands. The consumption of rice per capita in the United 



fe 





Fig. 77. — Harvesting rice in Arkansas. {From Essentials of Geography, 

 Second Book. Copyright 1916, by Albert Perry Brigham and Charles T. 

 McFarlane. American Book Company, Publishers.) 



States is steadily increasing. Orientals do not polish their 

 rice, while all the rice that comes on the market in this coun- 

 try has had the hull removed, and has been polished. Rice 

 hulls and rice flour or polish, removed in the milling process, 

 are used as stock food. Rice straw is also used as a food for 

 stock, and in the manufacture of paper, straw hats, straw 

 board, etc. In Japan, a drink called "sake," similar to 

 beer, is made from rice. 



