Annual Wild Rice

Wild rice, also called manoomin, mnomen, psíŋ, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus Zizania, and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically and is still gathered and eaten in North America and, to a lesser extent, China, where the plant's stem is used as a vegetable.

Wild rice and domesticated rice (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) are in the same botanical tribe Oryzeae. Wild-rice grains have a chewy outer sheath with a tender inner grain that has a slightly vegetal taste.

The plants grow in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing streams; Often, only the flowering head of wild rice rises above the water. The grain is eaten by dabbling ducks and other aquatic wildlife.