Latinized name from Arabic uruz (rice).
Annual or perennial mostly swampland rhizomatous mostly thick stemmed grass. Leaves linear, flat. Ligules leathery to papery. Inflorescence an open, drooping, panicle. Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally flattened. Glumes 2, shorter than the lemma, lower and upper glume nerveless. Lemma rigid, ridged, 3-9 nerved, sometimes awned. Palea smaller than the lemma, several-nerved, 1-keeled.
Some species such as O. barthii and O. perennis are significant weed species and others like O. longistaminata and O. ridleyi are important pasture species.
Seed.
One of the world's most important economic plants of warm-temperate to tropical regions. O. sativa is the principal food of about 50% of the world's population and is rich in carbohydrate. It is fermented to make beer and sake. The straw is used for matting.
Inflorescence spikelets characteristically flattened.
About 25 species from the tropics, mostly Asia and Africa.
Duistermaat (1987).
Source: (2005). Poaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
