1748  By the Sides of Lakes and Rivers there is abundance of wild Rice, which if cultivated, would make good Food.
1791  I . . . took an Indian slay, loaded with wild rice and dried meat, and two of his Canadians to assist me.
1863  Here were some hundreds of yards of shallow water, filled with the tall graceful plant, named by the Jesuits "folle avoine," and by the English "wild rice."
1963  Scientifically speaking, wild rice is Zizania Aquatica and isn't rice at all. The "rice" term was applied to it by early settlers because the grains resembled rice and it grew in shallow water on lake shores.