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1. Phragmites communis, Trin. 
Botanical name.—Phragmites—Greek, phragma, a fence or palisade, 
the stems of this grass being used for such a purpose ; communis— 
Latin, common. 
Synonym.—Arundo Phragmites, Linn. 
Vernacular name.—* Reed-grass.” 
Where figured.—Sowerby, Vasey. 
Botanical description (B. F1., vii, 636).—A stout perennial, usually 5 
or 6 feet high, but sometimes twice as much, with a long creeping 
root-stock, and numerous long leaves often an inch broad, the sheaths 
covering the stems to the inflorescence. 
Panicle 6 inches to 14 feet long, with numerous branches, more or less one-sided and 
drooping, often of a purplish-brown tinge. 
Spikeletsnumerous, at first very narrow, 4 to 6 lines long, flat and spreading when in 
seed, the long silky hairs proceeding from the rhachis, and as long as, or longer, 
than the glumes, giving the panicle a beautiful silvery aspect ; the glumes them- 
selves and the short part of the rhachis below the third glume quite glabrous. 
Value as a fodder.—* A tall, coarse, perennial grass, growing on the 
borders of ponds and streams, almost rivalling Sorghum in luxuriance. 
It-is resorted to by cattle only when finer and more nutritious grasses 
fail.’ (Vasey.) “ Used as fodder when quite young.” (Duthie.) 
This well-known plant, growing sometimes to over 15 feet high, is 
the tallest of our grasses, and at times a very useful one, too, for 
grazing purposes, as those who have known the reed-beds in Riverina 
and elsewhere can testify. 
“Tn situations where the reed grows here, some of the most valuable 
pasture grasses, native and exotic, will grow also.” (Bacchus.) 
Other uses.—This grass was formerly much utilised by the aborigines 
of Victoria for making bags or baskets, and a figure of one made of 
this material will be found in Brough Smyth’s “ Aboriginals of 
Victoria,” i, 348. It is not valuable for agricultural purposes, but it 
is of great importance for binding the earth on river banks with its 
extensively creeping root-stocks. The dry plant yields 4°7 per cent. 
of ash, and an analysis by Schulz-Fleeth will be found in “ Watt’s 
Dict.,” i, 418. The reed is turned to account in so many ways, 
or rather used to be, that I copy some of them from ‘‘ Withering’s 
British Plants” :—“ In Sweden by it the country people used to dye 
woollen cloth green. For thatching, reeds are more durable than straw. 
Garden screens are made of them, and they make a good foundation 
for plaster floors. They are also in demand by brickmakers. Till the 
introduction (in the seventh century) of pens made from quills of 
birds, they were in general use for writing. They also occasionally 
serve for arrows. The young shoots, cut from the roots, when not 
exposed to the light, make an excellent pickle. The nest of the Sedge- 
warbler is generally found suspended between the stems at a small 
height from the ground. Entomologists may sometimes find a con- 
siderable variety of insects on the panicles, where they resort for food 
or shelter.” 
