Reed is a perennial aquatic or wet tall grass, growing beside irrigation ditches, riverbanks and swamps, etc., all over the world, the stalks are erect, the plant is tall, swaying in the wind, wild and interesting. As the leaves, leaf sheaths, stems, rhizomes and adventitious roots of reeds have aeration organizations, so it plays an important role in purifying sewage. Reed stalks are tough and have a high fiber content, making it a rare raw material in the paper industry.
Morphological features
Perennial, rhizomes very well developed. Culms erect, basal and upper internodes short, lower leaf sheaths shorter than and upper ones longer than their internodes; leaf blades lanceolate-linear, apically long acuminate to filiform. Panicle large, bearing densely pendulous spikelets; apical part long acuminate, basal disk prolonged, sides densely filiform-pilose as long as lemma, distinctly jointed with glabrous rachilla, readily falling off from joint at maturity.
Growth habit
Reeds have rhizomes that walk horizontally, and reproduce mainly by rhizomes in their natural habitats, which crisscross to form a web, and even form a thicker rhizome layer on the water surface, on which people and animals can walk. Rhizome has a strong vitality, can be buried in the ground for a long time, 1 meter or even more than 1 meter rhizome, once the conditions are suitable, can still develop into new branches. Can also be reproduced by seed, the seed can be spread with the wind.
The range of adaptation to water is very wide, from the soil wet to perennial waterlogging, from a few centimeters of water depth to more than 1 meter, can form reed communities. In the water depth of 20-50 centimeters, slow-flowing rivers and lakes, can form tall grass communities, known as the "grass forest".
In the North China Plain Baiyangdian area germination period in early April, the leaf period in early May, the growth period in early April to late July, late July to early August, late July to early August, spiking period in early to late August, the flowering period in late August to early September, the seed maturity period in early October, the period of deciduousness at the end of October later. In Shanghai, buds grow from underground rhizomes in mid- to late March, occurring in large numbers in April-May, flowering in September-October, and fruiting in November. In Heilongjiang, seedlings emerge in May-June, only nutritive growth in that year, and form overwintering buds in July-September, which sprout in May-June, bloom in July-August, and mature in August-September.