Feather Grass, Reed, Common Reed

Where does Feather Grass grow?

Found in: Africa, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Balkans, Bosnia, Botswana, Britain, Burkina Faso, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, Dominican Republic, East Africa, Egypt, Estonia, Eswatini, Europe, Georgia, Guiana, Guianas, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Himalayas, Hungary, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Lesser Antilles, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, North America, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Romania, Russia, SE Asia, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Suriname, Swaziland, Tasmania, Uruguay, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Notes: There are 3 or 4 Phragmites species. It can be invasive.

Status: It is sold in local markets in China.

Growing Feather Grass, Reed, Common Reed

Cultivation: It can be grown from seed or by division of the clump. Seed are difficult and slow to germinate.

Edible Uses: Young shoots are eaten as a vegetable. They can also be pickled. The young leaves are dried and ground and mixed with cereal flour for dumplings. Starch can be extracted from the roots. The rhizomes can also be cooked like potatoes. The stems have been ground into powder for baking. They are also dried and made into a marsh-mellow like snack. The stems exude a sweet gum-like substance that can be eaten. The seeds can be eaten.

Nutrition Info

References

Ambasta, S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 449 (As Phragmites communis)

Beckstrom-Sternberg, Stephen M., and James A. Duke. "The Foodplant Database."http://probe.nalusda.gov:8300/cgi-bin/browse/foodplantdb.(ACEDB version 4.0 - data version July 1994) (As Phragmites communis)

Bidak, L. M., et al, 2015, Goods and services provided by native plants in desert ecosystems: Examples from the northwestern coastal desert of Egypt. Global Ecology and Conservation 3 (2015) 433–447

Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 788 (As Phragmites communis)

Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 788

Bremness, L., 1994, Herbs. Collins Eyewitness Handbooks. Harper Collins. p 202

Brickell, C. (Ed.), 1999, The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. Convent Garden Books. p 789

Burkill, H. M., 1985, The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 5. Kew. (As ssp. altissimus)

Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 2 (I-Z) p 1745

Cabalion, P. and Morat, P., 1983, Introduction le vegetation, la flore et aux noms vernaculaires de l'ile de Pentcoste (Vanuatu), In: Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquee JATBA Vol. 30, 3-4

Caton, J.M. & Hardwick, R. J., 2016, Field Guide to Useful Native Plants from Temperate Australia. Harbour Publishing House. p 172

Cerne, M., 1992, Wild Plants from Slovenia used as Vegetables. Acta Horticulturae 318. (As Phragmites communis)

Cherikoff V. & Isaacs, J., The Bush Food Handbook. How to gather, grow, process and cook Australian Wild Foods. Ti Tree Press, Australia p 190

Ciocarlan, N. & Ghendov, V., 2015, Ethnobotanical and Ecological Studies of Wild Edible Plants from Bugeac Steppe, Republic of Moldova. Journal of EcoAgriTourism. Cailta terra Vol. 11(2):

Cribb, A.B. & J.W., 1976, Wild Food in Australia, Fontana. p 126

Cundall, P., (ed.), 2004, Gardening Australia: flora: the gardener's bible. ABC Books. p 1033

Dangol, D. R. et al, 2017, Wild Edible Plants in Nepal. Proceedings of 2nd National Workshop on CUAOGR, 2017.

Dashorst, G.R.M., and Jessop, J.P., 1998, Plants of the Adelaide Plains & Hills. Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium. p 184

De Angelis, D., 2005, Aboriginal Plant Use of the Greater Melbourne Area. La Trobe University Environment Collective

Denes, A., et al, 2012, Wild plants used for food by Hungarian ethnic groups living in the Carpathian Basin. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 81 (4): 381-396

Duke, J.A., 1992, Handbook of Edible Weeds. CRC Press. p 144 (As Phragmites communis)

Elias, T.S. & Dykeman P.A., 1990, Edible Wild Plants. A North American Field guide. Sterling, New York p 129 (As Phragmites communis)

Elliot, W.R., & Jones, D.L., 1997, Encyclopedia of Australian Plants suitable for cultivation. Vol 7. Lothian. p 282

Esperanca, M. J., 1988. Surviving in the wild. A glance at the wild plants and their uses. Vol. 2. p 175 (As Phragmites communis)

Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 178

Flora of Australia Volume 49, Oceanic Islands 1, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. (1994) p 474

Flora of Pakistan. www.eFloras.org

Fowler, D. G., 2007, Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses. Kew. p 72

Hahn, K., et al, 2018, The Use of Wild Plants for Food: a National Scale Analysis for Burkina Faso (West Africa) Flora et Vegetatio Sudano-Sambesica 21, 25-33

Hani Medicine of Xishuangbanna, 1999, p 83 (As Phragmites communis)

Harris, S., Buchanan, A., Connolly, A., 2001, One Hundred Islands: The Flora of the Outer Furneaux. Tas Govt. p 201

Hastings Advance Community College, 2017, Uses for Native Plants of the Mornington Peninsula. 86pp. p 60

Hedrick, U.P., 1919, (Ed.), Sturtevant's edible plants of the world. p 489 (As Phragmites communis)

Hibbert, M., 2002, The Aussie Plant Finder 2002, Florilegium. p 232

http://www.botanic-gardens-ljubljana.com/en/plants

Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J., Lloyd, S.G., 1997, Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. Plant Protection Society of Western Australia. p 66

Irving, M., 2009, The Forager Handbook, A Guide to the Edible Plants of Britain. Ebury Press p 329

Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 94 (As Phragmites communis)

Kalle, R. & Soukand, R., 2012, Historical ethnobotanical review of wild edible plants of Estonia (1770s-1960s) Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 81(4):271-281

Kiple, K.F. & Ornelas, K.C., (eds), 2000, The Cambridge World History of Food. CUP p 1762

Ladio, A., Lozada, M. & M. Weigandt, 2007, Comparison of traditional wild plant knowledge between aboriginal communities inhabiting arid and forest environments in Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Arid Environments 69 (2007) 695–715

Lamp, C & Collet F., 1989, Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. Inkata Press. p 210

Lamp, C.A., Forbes, S.J. and Cade, J.W., 1990, Grasses of Temperate Australia. Inkata Press. p 242

Lazarides, M. & Hince, B., 1993, Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia, CSIRO. p 188 (As Phragmites communis)

Latz, P.K., 1996, Bushfires and Bushtucker: Aboriginal plant use in Central Australia. IAD Press Alice Springs p 244

Lazarides, M. & Hince, B., 1993, Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia, CSIRO. p 188

Lim, T. K., 2015, Edible Medicinal and Non Medicinal Plants. Volume 9, Modified Stems, Roots, Bulbs. Springer p 65

Li, D. et al, 2017, Ethnobotanical survey of herbal tea plants from the traditional markets in Chaoshan, China. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 205 (2017) 195-206

Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/

Mabey, R., 1973, Food for Free. A Guide to the edible wild plants of Britain, Collins. p 114 (As Phragmites communis)

Malezas Comestibles del Cono Sur, INTA, 2009, Buernos Aires

Marinelli, J. (Ed), 2004, Plant. DK. p 465

McKerney, M. & White, H., 2011, Bush Tucker, Boomerangs & Bandages. Border River-Gwyder Catchment Management Authority p 149

Moerman, D. F., 2010, Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. p 394

Nassif, F., & Tanji, A., 2013, Gathered food plants in Morocco: The long forgotten species in Ethnobotanical Research. Life Science Leaflets 3:17-54

Nomencl. bot. ed. 2, 2:324. 1841

Paczkowska, G. & Chapman, A.R., 2000, The Western Australian Flora. A Descriptive Catalogue. Western Australian Herbarium. p 114

Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 26

Phillips, D.C., 1988, Wild Flowers of Bahrain. A Field Guide to Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees. Privately published. p 118 (subsp. altissimus)

Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/

Plants of Haiti Smithsonian Institute http://botany.si.edu/antilles/West Indies

Recher, P, 2001, Fruit Spirit Botanical Gardens Plant Index. www.nrg.com.au/~recher/ seedlist.html p 6

Redzic, S. J., 2006, Wild Edible Plants and their Traditional Use in the Human Nutrition in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 45:189-232

Romanowski, N., 2007, Edible Water Gardens. Hyland House. p 66

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 3rd June 2011]

Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 89

Sainty, G.R. & Jacobs, S.W.L., 1981, Waterplants of New South Wales. Water Resources Commission. NSW p 207

Slocum, P.D. & Robinson, P., 1999, Water Gardening. Water Lilies and Lotuses. Timber Press. p 99

Stephens, K.M., & Dowling, R.M., 2002, Wetland Plants of Queensland. A field guide. CSIRO p 71

Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora

Tanaka,

Tasmanian Herbarium Vascular Plants list p 88

van Wyk, Be., & Gericke, N., 2007, People's plants. A Guide to Useful Plants of Southern Africa. Briza. p 92

Williams A. & Sides, T., 2008, Wiradjuri Plant Use in the Murrumbidgee Catchment. Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority. Wagga Wagga, p 91

World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Zhang, Y., et al, 2014, Diversity of wetland plants used traditionally in China: a literature review. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 10:72

Zola, N., & Gott, B., 1992, Koorie Plants Koorie People. Koorie Heritage Trust. p 12