Zizania
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Zizania
a genus of plants of the family Gramineae. They are grasses 1.5–3 m tall that live in the shallow areas of bodies of water and along the slow waters of rivers and lakes. The flowers are unisexual. There are two to three species of Zizania in North America and East Asia. The annual North American plant Z. aquatica, also known as wild rice, Canadian rice, aquatic rice, and Indian rice, is a valuable source of food and fodder. In the USSR it is occasionally encountered, primarily in Leningrad Oblast. The perennial East Asian plant Z. latifola is found in Transbaikalia and in the Far East. It is a useful, edible plant.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.