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Phragmites australis
Poaceae FAMILY

Phragmites australis

Phragmites australis

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
GrowthFast

Phragmites australis is found in most areas of the world from the cold temperate zone to the tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 30 - 35°c, but can tolerate 7 - 40°c[1]. Dormant plants are hardy to about -20°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 500 - 1,000mm, but tolerates 300 - 2,400mm[1]. A very easily grown plant that thrives in a sunny position in deep moisture retentive soils such as marshes and swamps, whilst it also grows well along the sides of streams, lakes and ponds, in shallow water, ditches and wet wastelands[3, 2, 4]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 4.8 - 8.2[1]. Plants are tolerant of moderately saline water[5, 4]. The plant can become a weed[1]. The flowering heads are often used in dried flower arrangements[6].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow in spring in a light position. Keep the soil moist by emmersing the pot in 3cm of water. Germination usually takes place quite quickly. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer. Division in spring. Very simple, any part of the root that has a growth bud will grow into a new plant. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Phragmites+australis>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Ornamental Grasses. — Grounds. R. · Christopher Helm · 1989 · ISBN 0-7470-1219-9 ↩︎Cultivation details of many of the grasses and bamboos. Well illustrated.
  4. [4]Handbook of Energy Crops — Duke. J. · - · 1983 · https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html · ISBN - ↩︎Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of both temperate and tropical plants.
  5. [5]A Weavers Garden — Buchanan. R. · McGraw-Hill Contemporary · 1987 · ISBN 0934026289 ↩︎Covers all aspects of growing your own clothes, from fibre plants to dyes.
  6. [6]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  7. [7]Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books, London. · 1998 · ISBN 0-330-37376-5 ↩︎Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.
  8. [8]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  9. [9]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  10. [10]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  11. [11]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  12. [12]Native Harvests. — Kavasch. B. · Vintage Books · 1979 · ISBN 0-394-72811-4 ↩︎Another guide to the wild foods of America.
  13. [13]The Dictionary of Useful Plants. — Coon. N. · Rodale Press · 1975 · ISBN 0-87857-090-x ↩︎Interesting reading but short on detail.
  14. [14]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  15. [15]Wild Food in Australia. — Cribb. A. B. and J. W. · Fontana · 1976 · ISBN 0-00-634436-4 ↩︎A very good pocket guide.
  16. [16]Britain's Wild Larder. — Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · ISBN 0-7153-7971-2 ↩︎A handy pocket guide.
  17. [17]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  18. [18]A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. — Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. · Van Nostrand Reinhold · 1982 · ISBN 0442222009 ↩︎Very readable.
  19. [19]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  20. [20]Famine Foods listed in the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. — Reid. B. E. · Southern Materials Centre; Taipei · 1977 · ISBN - ↩︎A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.
  21. [21]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  22. [22]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  23. [23]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  24. [24]Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. — Saunders. C. F. · Dover Publications · 1976 · ISBN 0-486-23310-3 ↩︎Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.
  25. [25]Chinese Materia Medica. — Stuart. Rev. G. A. · Taipei. Southern Materials Centre · 1911 · ISBN - ↩︎A translation of an ancient Chinese herbal. Fascinating.
  26. [26]Medicinal Plants of China — Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. · Reference Publications, Inc. · 1985 · ISBN 0-917256-20-4 ↩︎Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
  27. [27]A Barefoot Doctors Manual. — ? · Running Press; Philadelphica. · 1977 · ISBN 0-914294-92-X ↩︎A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.
  28. [28]Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. — Yeung. Him-Che. · Institute of Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles · 1985 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent Chinese herbal giving information on over 500 species. Rather technical and probably best suited to the more accomplished user of herbs.
  29. [29]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  30. [30]Plants in British Columbian Indian Technology. — Turner. N. J. · British Columbia Provincial Museum · 1979 · ISBN 0-7718-8117-7 ↩︎Excellent and readable guide.
  31. [31]The Useful Plants of Great Britain. — Johnson. C. P. ↩︎Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.
  32. [32]Plant Fibres for Papermaking. — Bell. L. A. · Liliaceae Press · 1988 · ISBN - ↩︎A good practical section on how to make paper on a small scale plus details of about 75 species (quite a few of them tropical) that can be used.
  33. [33]Plants with a Purpose. — Mabey. R. · Fontana · 1979 · ISBN 0-00-635555-2 ↩︎Details on some of the useful wild plants of Britain. Poor on pictures but otherwise very good.
  34. [34]Forest Flora of Srinagar. — Singh. Dr. G. and Kachroo. Prof. Dr. P. · Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎A good flora of the western Himalayas but poorly illustrated. Some information on plant uses.