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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. Fl., vii, 636). — A stout perennial, usually 5 

 or 6 feel: 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 1^ feet long, with numerous branches, more or less one-sided and 

 drooping, often of a purplish-brown tinge. 



Spihelets numerous, 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." (Yasey.) "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. 



" In 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, 343. 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 

 Diet.," i, 413. 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." 



