Zizania aquatica
Wild Rice
Taxonomy and growth
Uses
Edible uses
Seed - cooked[8]. It can be used as a cereal. A staple food of the native North American Indians[12][3], the long black delicious grain is eaten as an expensive gourmet meal[5]. 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[5]. It is a very rich source of riboflavin and is also rich in niacin[4]. The base of the culms is used as a vegetable[11].
- Plant part
- Seed
- Plant part
- Stem
Environment
- Range
- Eastern N. America - New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida and Texas.
- Light
- full sun
- Shade tolerance
- no shade
- Water
- aquatic
- Hardiness
- Zone 6+
- Soil textures
- sandy, loamy, clay
- Soil pH
- acid, neutral, alkaline
- Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil
- No
- Drought
- intolerant
Propagation
Seed - it must not be allowed to dry out or it will quickly lose its viability, usually within 4 weeks[2]. 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[2]. Pot on as required and plant out about 30cm square in May, by which time the plants should be 20 - 30cm tall[2]. Larger quantities can be sown in shallow boxes and plunged into the pond etc in May.
Cultivation
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[2]. It dislikes stagnant water[6]. A very ornamental plant[1], it grows, flowers and fruits well in the lake and lily pond at Kew[2]. 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[2]. It would possibly maintain itself in areas such as the Isle of Wight, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk[2]. It is a very hardy plant, the seed survives being frozen in ice[2]. Plants grown at a 30cm square spacing can produce 20 or more flowering shoots[2]. Often collected from the wild, this plant is now being cultivated commercially for its edible seed[5]. 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[2]. Plants require protection from wild fowl otherwise they will devour the young growth[2]. Plants are occasionally sown by lakes and rivers in Europe to attract wild fowl[10].
References
F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951-00-00
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Bulletin. 1909 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1909-00-00
McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977-00-00 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
Natural Food Institute, Wonder Crops. 1987.
Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990-00-00 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978-00-00 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992-00-00 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998-00-00 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950-00-00
? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964-00-00
Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968-00-00
Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976-00-00 ISBN 0-486-23310-3