Harundo 



reflection of the reeds in the water. The reddish 

 panicle of the reed turns grey in autumn, as is im- 

 plied in our third passage. 



Of the reed could be made pan-pipes and the 

 shafts of arrows. Plautus and other writers refer to 

 the use of it as thatch. Pliny seems to say that it 

 was so used mainly in the north, while other authori- 

 ties give the bulrush as the plant used for this 

 purpose in the south. 



There were other uses for which the great reed 

 was more in demand. It formed the middle bar in 

 the loom, not, as some lexicons give it, the comb. 

 Pens were made of it and probably also thatch. 

 The long stems were used as supports for vines, 

 for knocking down olives which were too high on 

 the tree to be gathered by hand, and for fishing- 

 rods. Plashed alleys and pergolas were sometimes 

 constructed of it. For these purposes it is still 

 cultivated in Italy. In the warmer parts of England 

 it succeeds in gardens, but on cold soils it cannot 

 bear our frosts. 



Flower, August and September. 

 Italian names : Canna (Arundo). 



Canna di palude (Phragmites). 



51 



