Zizania palustris
Poaceae tribe Oryzeae
interior wildrice, northern wild rice, wild rice
to 3 m, erect, usually at least partly immersed.
annual, 20-500 cm tall, aerenchymatous, sometimes floating.
glabrous or with scattered hairs;
ligules 3-16 mm, upper ligules truncate, lanceolate or triangular, erose;
blades 20-60 cm long, 3-21(40+) mm wide, glabrous, margins glabrate or scabrous.
aerenchymatous;
auricles present or absent;
ligules membranous or scarious, sometimes absent;
pseudopetioles sometimes present;
blades with parallel veins, cross venation not evident;
abaxial blade epidermes with microhairs and transversely dumbbell-shaped silica bodies;
first seedling leaf without a blade.
24-60 cm long, 1-20(40) cm wide;
branches unisexual.
usually panicles, sometimes racemes or spikes;
disarticulation below the spikelets, not occurring in cultivated taxa.
laterally compressed or terete, with 1 bisexual or unisexual floret, sometimes with 2 sterile florets below the sexual floret, these no more than 1/2 (9/10) the length of the fertile floret;
unisexual spikelets in the same or different panicles;
rachillas not prolonged.
absent or highly reduced, forming an annular ring or lobes at the pedicel apices;
sterile florets 1/8 – 1/2 (9/10) as long as the spikelets;
fertile lemmas 3-14-veined, membranous or coriaceous, apices entire, unawned or with a terminal awn;
paleas similar to the lemmas, 3-10-veined, 1-keeled;
lodicules 2;
anthers usually 6(1-16);
styles 2, bases fused or free, stigmas linear, plumose.
6-30 mm long, 0.6-2 mm wide.
usually caryopses, sometimes achenes, ovoid, oblong, or cylindrical;
embryos of the F+FP or F+PP type, small or elongate, with or without a scutellar tail;
hila usually linear, x = 12, 15, 17.
branches ascending or divergent;
pedicel apices 0.2-0.4 mm wide.; staminate spikelets 6-17 mm, lanceolate, acuminate or awned, awns to 2 mm.
branches mostly appressed or ascending, a few sometimes divergent;
pedicel apices 0.7-1.2 mm wide.; pistillate spikelets 8-33 mm long, 1-2.6 mm wide, lanceolate or oblong, coriaceous or indurate, lustrous, glabrous or with lines of short hairs, apices usually hirsute and abruptly narrowed, awned, awns to 10 cm;
lemmas and paleas remaining clasped at maturity; aborted pistillate spikelets 0.6-2.6 mm wide.
= 30.
Zizania palustris
Poaceae tribe Oryzeae
Zizania palustris grows mostly to the north of Z. aquatica, but the two species overlap in the Great Lakes region, eastern Canada, and New England. It is cultivated as a crop in some provinces and states, with California being the largest producer. All records from the western part of the Flora region reflect deliberate plantings; none are known to have persisted. In cultivated strains, the pistillate spikelets remain on the plant at maturity.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The Oryzeae include about 10-12 genera and 70-100 species. Its members are native to temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions. Oryza sativa is one of the world's most important crop species. Four genera are native to the Flora region; two are introduced.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Lower pistillate branches with 9-30 spikelets; pistillate part of the inflorescence 10-40 cm or more wide, the branches ascending to widely divergent; plants 1-3 m tall; blades 10-40+ mm wide | var. interior |
1. Lower pistillate branches with 2-8 spikelets; pistillate part of the inflorescence 1-8(15) cm wide, the branches appressed or ascending, or a few branches somewhat divergent; plants to 2 m tall; blades 3-21 mm wide | var. palustris |
1. Lemma margins free; fruits achenes, ellipsoid, obovoid, ovoid or subglobose, beaked with a shell-like pericarp. | → 2 |
2. Lemmas of the pistillate spikelets awned; plants emergent, more than 1 m tall | Zizaniopsis |
2. Lemmas of the pistillate spikelets unawned; plants emergent and less than 1 m tall or submerged aquatics | Luziola |
1. Lemmas and paleas clasping along their margins; fruits caryopses, cylindrical or laterally compressed, not beaked. | → 3 |
3. Spikelets unisexual; caryopses terete | Zizcmia |
3. Spikelets bisexual; caryopses laterally compressed or terete. | → 4 |
4. Sterile florets present below the fertile floret, 1/8 – 1/2 (9/10) as long as the spikelets | Oryza |
4. Glumes absent. | → 5 |
5. Leaf blades aerial, not pseudopetiolate, linear to broadly lanceolate; spikelets pedicellate, without stipelike calluses; lemmas unawned; widespread native species | Leersia |
5. Leaf blades floating, pseudopetiolate, elliptic to ovate or ovate-lanceolate; spikelets on stipelike calluses (1)2-10 mm long; lemmas awned; aquatic ornamental species, not known to be established in the Flora region | Hygroryza |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
CalFlora, CalPhotos, 
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
