THE GREAT REED. 99 



rarely flowers. But if my memory serves me, there 

 are always a few of these Heeds flowering here and 

 there in Autumn.* In 1885 the great brown 

 feathery inflorescence appeared everywhere. The 

 peasants say that when the great Eeed waves its 

 plumes aloft the Winter will be sharp. I have not 

 made up my mind about this saying, whether it holds 

 good or not. 



Fig. 38. AKUXDO DOXAX, THE GREAT EEED. 



The stems are hollow, and more or less closed 

 at each node (joint) ; their surface, hardened with a 

 siliceous (flinty) glaze, will turn the sharpest blade. 

 It would be difficult to enumerate the different 

 uses to which these Reeds are put. Each rustic 

 *' cabaret" has its reed-built summer-house or sun 

 shelter, grown over, to improve the shade, with a 

 Gourd, an Jpomea, or a Boussingaultia (French 

 41 Pomme de terre d'Afrique "). The Great Eeed 



Mr. C. Bicknell reports that in a thicket of Arundo at the mouth 

 of the Nervia there is a mass of flowers every Autumn. 



TA 



