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Zizania aquatica

Common name:	Wild Rice	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	43, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida and Texas.
Habitat:	Shallow waters of rivers and lakes, preferring a slow moving current[20, 43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	5	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Annual Wildrice [P,L], Chiang Ts'Ao [E], Chiao Mi [E], Chiao Pai [E], Chiao Ts'Ao [E], Indian Wild Rice [B], Ku [E], Ku Mi [E], Ku Sun [E], Wild Rice [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	aquatica = in water;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 3.5m by 0.2m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 5/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It can grow in water.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond.

Edible Uses

Seed; Stem.

Seed - cooked[257]. It can be used as a cereal. A staple food of the native North American Indians[95, 159], the long black delicious grain is eaten as an expensive gourmet meal[183]. It is used in the same ways that rice is used and is sometimes added to rice dishes to impart its subtle flavour. The seed can also be ground into a meal and used in making bread, thickening soups etc[183]. It is a very rich source of riboflavin and is also rich in niacin[160].
The base of the culms is used as a vegetable[74].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Easily grown in water up to 60cm deep, it tolerates water up to 1 metre deep though it prefers growing in water 10 - 20cm deep[136]. It dislikes stagnant water[20].
A very ornamental plant[1], it grows, flowers and fruits well in the lake and lily pond at Kew[136]. Plants can self-sow in Britain, but the seed tends to germinate too late to mature a fresh crop of seed in this country, so the plant gradually dies out[136]. It would possibly maintain itself in areas such as the Isle of Wight, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk[136]. It is a very hardy plant, the seed survives being frozen in ice[136]. Plants grown at a 30cm square spacing can produce 20 or more flowering shoots[136].
Often collected from the wild, this plant is now being cultivated commercially for its edible seed[183]. It is considered a gourmet's delicacy and is sold in many parts of the world, usually in health food shops and usually at a very high price[136].
Plants require protection from wild fowl otherwise they will devour the young growth[136]. Plants are occasionally sown by lakes and rivers in Europe to attract wild fowl[50].

Propagation

Seed - it must not be allowed to dry out or it will quickly lose its viability, usually within 4 weeks[136]. Store collected seed in jars of water in a cool place such as the salad compartment of a fridge. Sow the seed in spring. Immerse the pots so that they are covered by about 5cm of water. It is best to sow 2 seeds per 7cm pot in a greenhouse in order to get early germination and a better chance of a crop[136]. Pot on as required and plant out about 30cm square in May, by which time the plants should be 20 - 30cm tall[136]. Larger quantities can be sown in shallow boxes and plunged into the pond etc in May.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HEC] Use, Folk Medicine, etc. from Handbook of Energy Crops by James Duke
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[74] Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers.

[95] Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976 ISBN 0-486-23310-3
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.

[136] Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Bulletin. 1909 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1909
An interesting article on growing wild rice, Zizania aquatica and Z. latifolia.

[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.

[160] Natural Food Institute, Wonder Crops. 1987.
Fascinating reading, this is an annual publication. Some reports do seem somewhat exaggerated though.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
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