Botanical name: Zizania latifolia    Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Synonyms: Zizania aquatica var. latifolia, Zizania dahurica

Manchurian wild rice is a perennial, herb with stems erect, 1-2.5 m, about 1 cm thick, rooting at lower nodes. Leaf sheaths are longer than internodes, thickened, lower sheaths tessellate; leaf blades broadly linear, 50-90 x 1.5-3.5 cm, lower surface scabrous, upper surface hairless, tapering to base, tip abruptly narrowed to a long point. Flowers are born in panicle 30-50 x 10-15 cm, lower branches with male spikelets, upper branches with female spikelets, middle branches mixed; branches semiwhorled, many at each node, sparsely spinulose; flower-stalk tip disk-shaped with spinulose margin. Male spikelet 0.8-1.5 cm; lemma elliptic-oblong, margin fringed with hairs; awn 2-8 mm, scabrous; anthers 5-8 mm. Female spikelet 1.5-2.5 cm; lemma linear, scabrous on veins; awn 1.5-3 cm, scabrous. It is cultivated as a vegetable in Manipur and China. The young shoots and rhizomes are edible when infected, swollen, and softened by the fungus Ustilago esculenta. The grains were used for food by the Emperor in ancient China, and are currently being used by fishermen. Manchurian wild rice is found in NE India to SE Siberia and East Asia, in shallow water of lake margins and swamps, forming large patches. Flowering: June-September.
Medicinal uses: Rhizome paste applied to burns. Infected fruit is rich in protein. In china the culms, rhizomes and grains are used against anaemia, fever and as a diuretic. Also used for heart, kidney and liver problems.

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The flower labeled Manchurian Wild Rice is ...