Zizania texana

Hitchc.
Common names: Texas wildrice
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 50.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Sandy Long

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants perennial; stoloniferous. Culms 1-2(5) m, decumbent, geniculate, floating or the distal portions emergent. Sheaths glabrous; ligules 4-12 mm, upper ligules caudate or acuminate; blades to 1 m long and 13(25) mm wide, glabrous. Panicles 16-31 cm long, 1-10 cm wide; branches unisexual. Staminate branches ascending or somewhat divergent; pedicel apices about 3 mm wide. Staminate spikelets 6.5-11 mm, ovate or oblong, acute to acuminate. Pistillate branches appressed or ascending; pedicel apices 0.5-0.9 mm wide. Pistillate spikelets 9-12.5 mm long, 1.2-1.8 mm wide, lanceolate, somewhat coriaceous, somewhat lustrous, with scattered short hairs, apices scabrous or hispidulous, awned, awns 9-35 mm; aborted pistillate spikelets 0.7-1.5 mm wide. Caryopses 4.3-7.6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide. 2n = 30.

Discussion

Zizania texana grows only in the headwaters of the San Marcos River, in San Marcos, Texas (Terrell et al. 1978). It is officially listed as an endangered species in the United States.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.