Manchurian wild rice

Zizania latifolia, known as Manchurian wild rice (Chinese: 菰; pinyin: gū), is the only member of the wild rice genus Zizania native to Asia. It is used as a food plant. Both the stem and grain are edible. Gathered in the wild, Manchurian wild rice was an important grain in ancient China. A wetland plant, Manchurian wild rice is now very rare in the wild, and its use as a grain has completely disappeared in Asia, though it continues to be cultivated for its stems. A measure of its former popularity is that the surname Jiǎng (simplified Chinese: 蒋; traditional Chinese: 蔣), one of the most common in China, derives from this crop.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Is it poisonous?

We have no record of Manchurian wild rice being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.

Easily confused with

• Zizaniopsis miliacea
• Glyceria maxima
• Zizania palustris
• Acorus calamus
• Zizania aquatica
• Echinochloa pyramidalis

Classification

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Poales

Family

Poaceae

Genus

Zizania

Species

Zizania latifolia

More species