Reed
Reed is a common name for several tall, grass-like plants of wetlands.
Varieties
They are all members of the order Poales (in the modern, expanded circumscription), and include:
In the Poaceae (grass) family
- Common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.), the original species named reed
- Giant reed (Arundo donax L.), used for making reeds for musical instruments
- Burma reed (Neyraudia reynaudiana)
- Reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea)
- Reed sweet-grass (Glyceria maxima)
- Small-reed (Calamagrostis species)
In the Cyperaceae (sedge) family
- Paper reed or papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), the source of the Ancient Egyptian writing material, also used for making boats
In the Sparganiaceae family
- Bur-reed (Sparganium species)
In the Typhaceae family
- Reed-mace (Typha species), also called bulrush or cattail
In the Restionaceae family
- Cape thatching reed (Elegia tectorum), a restio originating from the South-western Cape, South Africa.
- Thatching reed (Thamnochortus insignis), another restio species originating from the same geographic region.
The reeds grow in both fresh and salt water. Either in the shallows; or on marshy ground that is frequently inundated with floods or tides. It has been calculated, that a quarter of Britain’s landscape was once like this, making water reed a useful and widespread material for our distant ancestors.
Water reed is a managed wild species, thus it does not have to be planted each year. But the reed beds do need maintenance. The traditional way, to bring a suitable reed bed into production, is to burn the old standing reeds during the winter for several years. In each successive spring, the young plants, called Colts, grow increasingly straighter as their progress is not impeded by the dead growth of previous years. The longer the bed is in production, the better the quality of reed.
The plant grows annually to a height of between 3 and 8 ft. (900mm and 2.6m). Being distinguished by its feathery seed head and spear like leaf shape. The reed is cut in the winter months, before the young colts emerge in the spring. Usually frosts are allowed to kill off the reed before harvest and a fall of snow helps to strip the leaves from the stem. Nearly all reed is harvested annually; being known as First Wale reed. Occasionally a reed bed needs a biannual harvest and this becomes Second Whale material.
The method of harvesting the reeds, has changed over the years. Becoming more mechanized and a little less labour intensive. The traditional way of harvesting, is by using a scythe or a sickle. With the harvester, both cleaning the reed and tying it into bundles, as work progresses. A hundred bundles a day, is reckoned to be a good cutting rate. Being a wild plant water reed grows much less thickly than cultivated cereals. An acre of decent reed bed produces around 300 bundles of material (750 bundles per hectare).
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