Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Poaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.

  • Description

    Species Description - Stout, 2–4 m, extensively colonial; ligule 1 mm; lvs flat, long-acuminate, usually 2–3 cm wide; infl subtended by a tuft of silky hairs, tawny, 2–4 dm, usually declined; spikelets 3–7-fld, narrowly linear before anthesis; first glume narrowly elliptic, rather blunt, the second linear, nearly twice as long; lemmas very narrow, 8–12 mm, the upper usually the shorter; hairs of the rachilla white, as long as the lemmas, exposed after anthesis as the lemmas diverge; 2n=36, 48, 54, 72, 84, ca 96. Swamps and wet shores, tolerant of salt, seldom producing seed; nearly cosmop, and throughout most of our range. (P. communis)

  • Common Names

    common reed