Oryza barthii grows in deep water, seasonally flooded land, stagnant water, and slowly flowing water or pools; it prefers clay or black cotton soils, and is found in open habitats. It is the progenitor of cultivated "Oryza glaberrima", African rice. Recently, the genome of "O. barthii" was sequenced. Oryza barthii Oryza barthii, also called Barth's rice, wild rice, or African wild rice, is a grass in the rice genus "Oryza". It is an annual, erect to semierect grass. It has leaves with a short ligule (<13 mm), and panicles that are compact to open, rarely having secondary branching. The inflorescence structure are
Elasmopalpus brown anterior and distal margins. The larvae feed on a wide range of plants but prefer grasses. Recorded host plants include a number of economically important plants such as "Phaseolus vulgaris", "Beta vulgaris", "Brassica oleracea" var. "capitata", "Cucumis melo", "Cyperus esculentus", "Zea mays", "Vigna unguiculata", "Phaseolus lunatus", "Avena sativa", "Pisum sativum", "Arachis hypogaea", "Capsicum annuum", "Oryza sativa", "Secale cereale", "Sorghum bicolor", "Glycine max", "Sorghum sudanense", "Saccharum officinarum", "Ipomoea batatas", "Lycopersicon esculentum", "Brassica rapa" and "Triticum aestivum". They tunnel into the crown of their host plant, severely weakening large plants and often killing young seedlings. They spin silken tubes near the