Thailand: Rice terraces, Ban Huai Masang, Chiang Rai Province, Northern Thailand

The seed of the monocot group of flowering plants, rice is a cereal grain that comes in two major strains: Oryza sativa or Asian rice, and Oryza glaberrima or African rice.For a large portion of the world's population, particularly those in Central, East and South Asia, rice is one of the most important and most widely consumed food sources.Etymologically the word rice comes from the Old French 'ris', dated from around the mid-13th century. The Old French term itself is believed to have been derived from the Italian 'riso', which in turn came from the Latin word 'oriza', and the Latin word derived from the Greek 'oruza', from which all European words for rice originate.