216 GRASSES OF IOWA. 



androus, except the lowest, which is either neutral or with I to 3 

 stamens, and naked. Glumes membranaceous, shorter than the flowers, 

 lanceolate, keeled, sharp pointed, very unequal ; flowering glume and 

 palet membranaceous, slender, the glume narrowly awl-shaped, thrice 

 the length of the palet. Squamulae 2, large. Styles long. Grain free. 

 Tall and stout perennials, with long, running rootstocks, numerous 

 broad leaves, and a large terminal panicle. (From a Greek word mean- 

 ing growing in hedges •, which this aquatic grass does not.) 



Two or three species; one, Phragmites communis, is cosmopolitan; 

 one is native to tropical Asia, one to Argentine Republic and one to 

 North America. 



1. PHRAGMITES COMMUNIS. 



Phragmites communis Trin. Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. Watson and 

 Coulter. Gray, Man.Bot. 658. pi. 11. 1890. (6 ed. ) Scribner. Grasses of Tenn. 

 Univ. Tenn. Agr. Exp. Sta. 7: 93. 1894. 



Phragmites Phragmites (L) Karst. Beal. Grasses of N. A. 2: 460. 

 /. 92. 1896. Nash in Britton and Brown. 111. Fl. 1: 184. /. 420. 1896. 



Phragmites vulgaris (Lam.) B. S. P. .Scribner. Bull. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Div. Agros. 7: 235. f.229. 1900. (3 ed.) 



Arundo Phragmites L. Sp. PI. 81. 1753. 



Arundo vulgaris Lam. Fl. Fr. 3: 615. 1778 



Czernia arundinacea Pr. Gram. 22. 1820. 



DESCRIPTION*. 



Reed. A tall, stout, perennial grass, 5 to 15 feet (15-45 dm.) 

 high, with stout, creeping rootstocks, numerous broad, attenuate-pointed 

 leaves, and large, ovoid-pyramidal, purplish, terminal panicles, \ to 1 

 foot (15-30 cm.) long or more. Spikelets crowded on the ascending 

 branches; empty glumes unequal, the first one-nerved, one-half to two- 

 thirds as long as the three-nerved second one; flowering glumes 5 to 

 lines (10-12 mm.) long, three-nerved, long-acuminate, equalling the 

 hairs of the rachilla. August to October. 



Phragmites communis w as common at one time in the northern half 

 of the state and in southeastern Iowa. In central and northern Iowa it 

 is rapidly disappearing because of the drainage of the numerous small 

 ponds. 



DISTRIBUTION". 



Iowa. Forest City, 40 (Shimek); Pilot Mound, 3055 (Mis> 

 King and MacCorkindale) ; Ackley, 3272 (Hunt); Sioux City (Miss 

 Wakefield); Jewell junction, 1309 (Pammel); Fayette (Fink); 



