Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Annual wildrice
Zizania aquatica · includes its varieties and subspecies
Annual wildrice is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 288 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Annual wildrice at a glance
- Native in
- 288 counties, across 27 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b PLANTS minimum temperature 32°F
- Mature height
- 9.8 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 10b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 32°F; zone 10b winters bottom out at 35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Annual wildrice is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 288 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 288 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 12 counties
- Georgia 3 counties
- Illinois 16 counties
- Indiana 15 counties
- Iowa 11 counties
- Louisiana 8 counties
- Maine 10 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 10 counties
- Michigan 36 counties
- Minnesota 14 counties
- Mississippi 2 counties
- New Hampshire 4 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New York 27 counties
- North Carolina 9 counties
- Ohio 12 counties
- Pennsylvania 8 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 5 counties
- Vermont 5 counties
- Virginia 27 counties
- Wisconsin 29 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 9.8 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6.4 to 7.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 32°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 95
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Indeterminate
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ZIAQ
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Zizania aquatica (PLANTS symbol ZIAQ), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources