Genus: Zizania — wild rice
Be careful when using vegetative characters for species identification. Characters such as leaf blade width and ligule length are highly variable in New England and show tremendous overlap between species. Reference: Terrell et al. (1997).
Family
This genus’s species in New England
Visit this genus in the Dichotomous Key
![Inflorescences: Zizania aquatica. ~ By Marilee Lovit. ~ Copyright © 2025 Marilee Lovit. ~ lovitm[at]gmail.com](https://newfs.s3.amazonaws.com/taxon-images-239x239/Poaceae/zizania-aquatica-in-mlovit-a.jpg)
![Leaves: Zizania aquatica. ~ By Douglas McGrady. ~ Copyright © 2025 Douglas McGrady. ~ demcgrady[at]hotmail.com](https://newfs.s3.amazonaws.com/taxon-images-239x239/Poaceae/zizania-aquatica-le-dmcgrady.jpg)