6 



BULLETIN 465, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



compactly grouped. The grain (fig. 2, A) of wild rice is from 

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length, slender, of uniform 

 diameter, and with rounded or pointed ends. A low rib runs along 

 the whole length of one side and a shallow groove along the other. 

 The husk of the seed (fig. 2, B) has six longitudinal grooves and a 

 long, pointed beak, the whole being an inch and a half or sometimes 

 even more in length. The appearance of the flower head or of the 





F IG . 2. — Wild rice seed : (A) With the hull off and (B) with the hull on. (From Bull. 50, 



Bureau of Plant Industry.) 



grain distinguishes wild rice from any other aquatic grass in its 

 range. 1 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Natural growths of wild rice have been found from the northern 

 end of Lake Winnipeg eastward along the northern shores of the 



1 The southern -white marsh or folle avoine {Zizaniopsis), superficially much like Zizania, 

 does not have the flower head as a whole divided into pistillate and staminate parts, and 

 the grain is ovoid and without a long beak. 



