416 



GRAMINEiE. 



Zizania. 



lines wide, rough ; the sheaths deeply striate, and also somewhat rough with little prickles, 

 rarely pubescent. Panicle much exserted ; the branches few and solitary. Flowers racemose, 

 on short pedicels ; the glumes bent around and partly embracing the rachis, imbricated, 

 covered with minute impressed dots ; the inferior one boat-shaped, acuminate ; the upper 

 linear-lanceolate. Stigmas while. Carvopsis oblong. 



Swamps and wet shady woods : less common than the preceding. Fl. August - September. 



2. ZIZANIA. Gronov.; Endl. gen. 732. WILD RICE. WATER rice. 



[An ancient Greek name for some Grass, supposed to be Lolium perenne.'] 



Monoecious. Spikelets one-flowered. Staminate : Glumes none, or only rudimentary. Paleae 

 herbaceo-membranaceous, awnless. Stamens 6. Pistillate : Glumes none. Paleae 

 herbaceo-membranaceous ; lower one oblong, keeled, terminating in a straight awn. Styles 

 short : stigma pencil-form. — Tall marsh grasses, with a large terminal panicle. Flowers 

 very caducous. 



L Zizania aquatica, Linn. Tuscarora Rice. Water Oats. Indian Rice. 



Lower branches of the panicle staminate, spreading ; upper branches erect, pistillate ; the 

 spikelets on clavate pedicels ; awns elongated ; caryopsis slender, linear. — Linn. sp. 2. 

 p. 991 ; Lamb, in Linn, trans. 7. p. 264. t. 13 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 60 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 585 ; 

 Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 344 ; Beck, hot. p. 419 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 93. Z. clavulosa, Michx. 

 fl. 1. p. 75 ; Willd. sp. 4. p. 394 ; Muhl. gram. p. 270. Hydroporum esculentum, Link, 

 " hort. Berol. 1. p. 252;" Kunth, enum. 1. p. 9. 



Annual ? Culm 4-8 feet high, erect, terete, smooth. Leaves 2-3 feet long, and from 

 half an inch to more than an inch wide, light green, smooth on both sides, rough on the margin. 

 Panicle 10-18 inches long, loose, pyramidal, with verticillate branches; the lower part 

 spreading horizontally, and bearing staminate flowers ; the upper erect, or appressed and 

 fertile. Sterile flowers pendulous ; the paleae nearly equal in length, about half an inch long, 

 purplish, a little hairy ; lower one 5-nerved, the upper 3-nerved. Stamens 6 : filaments short : 

 anthers oblong, greenish yellow. Fertile flowers somewhat racemose, on upwardly thickened 

 pedicels, about an inch long. Glumes none, or minute and connate, forming a little cup. 

 Paleae unequal, rough, purplish ; lower one longer, 3-nerved. Scales lanceolate. Caryopsis 

 terete, about half an inch long, blackish when ripe, but white and farinaceous internally. 



Swamps, and borders of rivulets and lakes ; in both fresh and brackish waters : frequent. 

 Fl. August - September. Fr. October. The grain of this plant is a favorite article of food 

 among the Indians, and cattle are very fond of the herbage. It might probably be cultivated 

 to advantage for fodder, especially in large inundated tracts that are worth but little for any 

 other purpose. Z. fluitans, of Michaux, as appears from his herbarium, was not found in 

 Lake Champlain, as noticed by mistake in the Flora B or eali- American ce, but near Charleston, 

 South-Carolina. 



