**2. Materials and methods**

#### **2.1 Seed material**

A total of four wild rice species; *O. rufipogon*, *O. nivara*, *O. eichingeri* and *O. rhizomatis* were collected from different localities of the Districts, Puttlam, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Hambantota, Matara and Ampara of Sri Lanka. The botanical names and the acronyms used were given in **Table 1**. The collected samples were used for morphological, anatomical and molecular studies.


**Table 1.**

*Botanical names of the wild rice species and acronyms used in the study.*
