Oryza sativa Seeds | Black Madras Rice
LATIN NAME: Oryza sativa
COMMON NAME: Black Madras Rice, Purple-leaved Rice
Plant Profile
Black Madras is a purple-leaved form of Asian rice, grown as an ornamental annual for its arching black foliage and airy seed heads. It is a selection of the cultivated rice Oryza sativa, the crop that feeds more people than any other, and it carries the same growth habit and the same requirements as a field rice, only with anthocyanin pigment through the leaves and stems. The plant forms a clump of narrow, drooping blades that start green and darken to deep purple-black within a few weeks, then sends up panicles of small greenish spikelets that turn gold as they ripen. It reaches 60 to 90 cm in a season and dies at the first frost. Grown in a bucket or a bed that holds water, it makes an unusual foliage plant for a patio, and it will set a small crop of grain if it is given enough sun and warmth. It is not a houseplant, and it is not a substitute for a rice paddy.
Science & Biotechnology
Oryza sativa is a semi-aquatic grass domesticated from the wild rice O. rufipogon, probably around the Yangtze valley about nine thousand years ago, and it has since split into the indica and japonica groups, which differ in grain shape, cooking quality and cold tolerance. The plant is diploid with 24 chromosomes and a genome of about 430 million base pairs, sequenced in 2005 and used ever since as a model for the grasses. Its roots can survive in waterlogged soil because air is carried down through aerenchyma channels in the stem, and the plant takes up large amounts of silicon, which stiffens the stems against wind and pests. Rice is self-pollinating, which is why landraces stay true and why breeding is done by hand emasculation. The purple-leaved forms carry anthocyanin pigments that are absent from ordinary rice, and they are grown for ornament rather than yield, though the grain is edible.
Uses & Benefits
Rice is the staple food of more than half the world, and the species is also the source of rice bran oil, rice straw for thatch and fodder, and rice husk for fuel and insulation. The ornamental purple forms are sold as annual bedding and container plants, where they provide dark foliage and a graceful arch that few annual grasses can match, and the seed heads are used in dried arrangements. In Asia the grain of coloured rices is eaten as a speciality, and black rice is prized for its anthocyanin content. The plant is also used in teaching, since a bucket of rice will demonstrate aerenchyma, self-pollination and grain development in a single season. For a gardener in a cool climate the ornamental forms are the practical use, since the grain will rarely ripen before autumn.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring at 20 to 25 degrees, either in a pot of wet loam or in a seed tray that is kept standing in water; germination takes one to two weeks. Once the seedlings are 10 cm tall, pot them into a bucket with 5 cm of soil and fill with water to 5 cm above the surface, or plant them in a bed that holds water. Keep them in full sun and top up the water as it evaporates. Feed twice in the season with a balanced fertiliser. The plants will flower in late summer and the grain ripens in about a month, though in cool climates it may not finish before frost. Treat as an annual and save seed from the earliest panicles if you want to grow it again.
Our Take
A purple-leaved rice for a bucket of water on a sunny patio. Showy, easy, and it will even give you a handful of grain.
Related Reading
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