The origin of Asian common rice ( spp.indica,Oryza sativa ),especially of indica varieties is discussed in the present paper.Asian common rice includes two distinct subspecies or groups of varieties,indica and japonica,that are classified according to the combination of a large number of genes and genetically controlled characters.These two subspecies were domesticated in different places at different periods,perhaps by different cultural components as well as ethnic groups:japonica rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River basin in 10000 B.P.,while indica rice was domesticated in the tropical Asia by donation of genes for domestication-related characters from japonica varieties.