106 WILD RICE. 



by other botanists, z. clavulvsa — I shall prefer the 

 first name as most characteristic. It has been 

 well described by Mr. Lambert, as 



Zizania panicnla iiiferne racemosa snperne spi- 

 cnta. Pursh represents il as a perennial plant ; 

 Nuttall and Michaux are silent on tliis point, and 

 Eaton says it is an annual, in which opinion I 

 concur. 



]\Ir. Lambert, in a communication in the Tth 

 volume of the Transactions of the Linnaean Soci- 

 ety of London, has given a figure of this plant, ^s 

 growing at Spring Grove, tlie seat of Sir Joseph 

 Banks, in England. It appears that Sir Joseph 

 received some of the seed, gathered in a lake, in 

 Canada, and put up in jars of water. It was 

 Fown in a pond at Spring grove, vrliere he has a 

 great quantity^ of the plant, growing annually, 

 ripening its seeds extremely well in autumn, and 

 sowing itself round tlie edges. 



By what I can learn, this same plant grows in 

 Lake George, and I/ake Champlain, and in all 

 the Western Lakes. It produces seed in some 

 places in September, and in others in October. 

 It grows in shallow water, and sometimes to the 

 lieighth of eight feet. Some of the western 

 Indians derive their principal r support from it. 

 The grain it bears is superior to the common 

 rice, and if cut before ripe, if makes excellent 



