Wild rice is four species of grasses

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

 forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. While it is now something of a delicacy in North America, the grain is eaten less in China, where the plant's stem is used as a vegetable.

Wild rice is not directly related to Asian rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 (Oryza sativa

Oryza sativa

Oryza sativa, commonly known as Asian rice, is the plant species most commonly referred to in English as rice. Oryza sativa is the cereal with the smallest genome, consisting of just 430Mb across 12 chromosomes...

), whose wild progenitors are O. rufipogon

Oryza rufipogon

Oryza rufipogon, known as brownbeard rice and red rice is a member of the genus Oryza. It has a close evolutionary relation to Oryza sativa, the rice grown as a major food crop throughout the world. O...

 and O. nivara

Oryza nivara

Oryza nivara is a wild progenitor of the cultivated rice Oryza sativa. It is found growing in swampy areas, at edge of pond and tanks, beside streams, in ditches, in or around rice fields...

, although they are close cousins, sharing the tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Oryzeae

Oryzeae

Oryzeae is a tribe of flowering plants in the grass family, Poaceae. It contains 12 genera, including both cultivated rice and wild rice .-Genera:* Chikusichloa Koidz.* Hygroryza Nees* Leersia Sw.* Luziola Juss....

.