What is Oryza Sativa? You will be stunned to know that this is actually a scientific name of rice! It is commonly called Asian rice and the species of plants which is majorly cultivated worldwide. It was first brought into the domestic mainstream in China’s Yangtze River basin around 13,500-8,200 years back as per historical estimates. It is also called English rice at times and is a farmed rice which is cultivated in several places. By Oryza Sativa, it is understood that it is a genome which spans 12 chromosomes in total. It is known for being easy to modify genetically while also being a cereal biology model organism. Learning more about Oryza Sativa Oryza Sativa has two key sub-species, namely the japonica and sinica which are sticky and long-grained varieties respectively. Japonica was first mainstreamed 6-9,000 years earlier in the Yangtze Valley and the varieties are cultivated mostly throughout dry fields in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Sinica has also been mainstreamed 4,500-8,000 years earlier. The varieties in this case are majorly lowland rice which is cultivated all throughout tropical Asia. Rice comes in several colors such as red, purple, black, brown and white. Black rice or purple rice is a wide range of types in its own right, many of which are also called glutinous rice. Some varieties include Thai jasmine black rice and Indonesian black rice. There is another sub-species which has a broad-grained nature and flourishes in tropical climates. This was initially known as javanica and is today called tropical japonica. Examples include the Unoy and Tinawon varieties which are grown in the Philippines. Oryza means rice in Latin while Sativa equates to cultivated. The Oryza Genus has 7-20 species of grasses and rice within the Oryzeae tribe and also within the Bambusoideae sub-family which is native to several subtropical and tropical Asian regions along with Africa and Northern Australia. These are wetland grasses going up to 1-2 meters high.