Plant · P-683

Wild Rice

Zizania aquatica

Wild Rice is an aquatic annual grass that grows standing in fresh water, its long black grain traditionally harvested by bending the seed heads over a canoe and knocking the ripe kernels loose across several passes. Waterfowl are the other reason to grow it - geese, ducks, rails and blackbirds all take the grain, and dense stands supply nesting cover as well as food. The seed cannot be dried for storage; it has to be kept wet and cold or it loses viability within weeks, and the grain is vulnerable to a fungus that turns infected kernels purple or pink and makes them dangerous to eat.