Texas Wild Rice : Zizania Texana

Texas Wild Rice

By Kate Hickenlooper

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Close-View-of-Endangered-Texas-Wild-Rice-Posters_i3994451_.htm

Texas wild rice (Zizania texana) is a plant that grows in the San Marcos River, Texas. It is in the endangered spices list. (Jackie Poole and David Bowles, Habitat Characterization Of Texas Wild-Rice). It is classified as a grass that has a natural habitat in bodies of water. For this particular grass that body of water is the San Marcos River, and only that river. It prefers to be in fast and shallow water The Texas wild rice has leaves that are long, skinny, and flat (Gale, Texas Wild-Rice). One of the reasons this plant is endangered because of its restricted habitat. Researchers have only been able to find it for approximately a one and half mile stretch in the San Marcos river, They have not found any evidence of this plant existing anywhere else recently (H.P. Emory, The Decline and Threatened Extinction of Texas Wild Rice). Other factors such as plowing, pollution, and destruction of the natural habitat have had a grave impact on the plant’s growth.

Conversational efforts to limit such impacts have been made, but the population has neither decreased nor increased since the start of conservation efforts. Scientists are also working on taking seeds and planting them to try and reboot the population, but so far have had no success in the wild (H.P. Emory, Current Status of Texas Wild Rice). So while efforts are being made to save the Texas wild rice, scientists and environmentalists have had their share of struggles trying to find a way to protect and add to the current population.

Works Cited

Jackie, Poole, and Bowles David E. “Habitat Characterization Of Texas Wild-Rice (Zizania Texana Hitchcock), An Endangered Aquatic Macrophyte From The San Marcos River, TX, USA.” Aquatic Conservation 9.3 (1999): 291-302. Environment Complete. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Texas Wild-Rice. n.p.: Gale, 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Emery, H. P. “Current Status of Texas Wild Rice (Zizania texana Hitchc.).” The Southwestern Naturalist 1977: 393. JSTOR Journals. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Wm. H. P., Emery. “The Decline and Threatened Extinction of Texas Wild Rice (Zizania texana Hitchc.).” The Southwestern Naturalist 1967: 203. JSTOR Journals. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa_works/profile_pages/TexasWildRice.html