WILD RICE. 105 



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LETTER XXIV. 



Canandaiguai July ylS20, 

 My Dear Sir, 



I saw, for the first time, in the Seneca river at 

 Montezuma, the aquatic plant, called wild rice 

 or foUe avoinC: It grows all over the west and 

 north — and wherever it flourishes, myriads of 

 water fowls are attracted to it, and derive their 

 chief support and exquisite flavour from its ali- 

 mentary qualities. In the lakes and rivers adjoin- 

 ing Montezuma, thousands of wild geese and 

 ducks of all kinds congregate at the proper season 

 for food, except the canvas back duck, or anis 

 vulisneria of Wilson, which derives its name from 

 a water plant called valisneria, on the roots of 

 which it feeds, and which is a fresh w ater vegeta- 

 table, that grows in some parts of the Hudson and 

 Delaware, and in most of the rivers that fall into 

 the Chesapeake. 



Some difficulty has occurred not only about 

 the botanical name, but also about the botanical 

 character of the wild rice, or wild oats. This 

 confusion of nomenclature has arisen from Lin- 

 naeus himself. In his species plantarum, he has 

 denominated it zizania aquatica, and in his i\lan- 

 tissa, zizania pakistris— and it has been called 



