It has been generally held in botany that Oryza sativa L. is a monocotyledon. Based on studies of rice embryo development we confirmed that rice embryo has two dimorphic cotyledons rather than just one cotyledon. In the present study we attempt to know if the morphology of embryos in other species of Oryza differs from O. sativa and if these embryos have dimorphic cotyledon. Two types of embryo structures were observed in 22 species and/or subspecies of genus Oryza under the scanning electron microscope. Type 1, the O.sativa type, which is characterized by ventral scale and lateral scales, was found in 16 species. Type 2, the O. meyeriana (Zoll. et Mor. ex Steud.) Baill. ssp. tuberculata W. C. Wu et Y. G. Lu, G. C. Wang type, with no ventral scale and lateral scales, was found in 6 species and subspecies. The embryogenic process of O.sativa and O.meyeriana sub. tuberculata showed that the scutellum primordium, coleorhiza primordium, coleoptile primordium and shoot apical meristem directly differentiate from proembryo. The former two later develop into the embryo envelope, which is the outside cotyledon; the coleoptile primordium develops into the coleoptile with the shape of inverted empty cone surrounding and covering the growth cone, which is the apical cotyledon. Both types of rice embryos have dimorphic cotyledons. The structural difference between them is that the scutellum primordium of the young embryo in type 2 does not differentiate ventral scale and lateral scales while the embryo of type 1 does. The dimorphic cotyledons of embryo of Oryza plants originate from the dorsiventrality of proembryo.
