It has a close evolutionary relation to Oryza sativa, the plant grown as a major rice food crop throughout the world.

It is found growing in swampy areas, at edge of pond and tanks, beside streams, in ditches, in or around rice fields.

[11] As with a great many plants and animals, O. rufipogon has a positive correlation between effective population size and magnitude of selection pressure.

[14] In India, the Pallikaranai marshland contains the wild rice O. rufipogon, described by the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) as a "precious germplasm.

[18] Oryza rufipogon is an invasive species and listed as a 'noxious weed' by the United States,[19] and listed as a noxious weed in Alabama, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Vermont.

According to the NAPPO (North American Plant Protection Organization), O. rufipogon blends in with cultivated O. sativa so well that it cannot be detected.