Common reed is a tall, upright herbaceous plant that grows along the shores of reservoirs, lakes, floodplains, in swamps, braids and damp meadows, often at a depth of one and a half meters.
Common reed: description
This is a cosmopolitan plant that can be found almost everywhere, except for deserts and the Arctic.
The height of such a perennial can sometimes reach 4-5 meters, a hollow stem in diameter is 2 centimeters. After flowering, the straight stem is lignified. The gray-green leaves of the reed are linear-lanceolate, elongated and are characterized by stiffness and cutting edges. Under the gusts of a strong wind, they can bend down to the water surface, practically touching it, while never breaking.
Inflorescence is a large fluffy panicle (purple or silver), consisting of a large number of small spikelets. Pollination of reeds occurs with the help of wind, flowering is observed in July-September. Fruits are caryopsis, ripening of which occurs in late summer - early autumn. They do not fall for a long time and attract attention with fluffy silver-brown sultans. In winter, this plant, covered with a snow cover, looks majestic, giving a pond, along the perimeter of which it grows, a nice, cozy look. You can’t confuse his loud rustling with dried shoots in the wind, it seems to protect the inhabitants of the reservoir from bad weather.
Ecological use of reeds
Rhizomes of reeds are long, grow very much, constantly capturing new territories. It is with their help that reed propagation occurs. Its thickets are dense and impassable, have important environmental significance. Placed in swampy areas, common reed (photos show the mass of its distribution) dries them, transforming them into dry areas.
This happens due to the mass of stems and leaves that absorb a large amount of moisture from the soil and evaporate it. Peat formation also occurs due to reed. This plant is used to feed livestock. Elk, nutria and muskrat gladly eat its stiff stems, which are also used in agriculture for harvesting silage.
The use of cane in the national economy
Common reed is an excellent material for the production of baskets, mats, light furniture for summer cottages, musical instruments. It is a natural raw material for the manufacture of cardboard and paper. In treeless areas, dry cane stalks are used as fuel, and such high-quality sound and heat-insulating material is covered on roof sheds. Translated from Latin Phragmites means "fence", "wattle fence". The production of adobe brick is based on a cross-section from the shoots of this coastal plant. Reed is also used as a plant fertilizer and even for alcohol.
Oxygenator plant
With its help, sand is fixed, as well as a decrease in the degree of water pollution. Common reed (the family to which it belongs - cereals) is an oxygenating plant that plays an important role in maintaining the cleanliness of the pond. It is planted in a deep-water place of a reservoir and regularly cut off due to random growth.
For a small pond, 2-3 plants will suffice, for a larger area, it is recommended that several types of oxygenators be present, which, in addition to reeds, include hornwort, ordinary teloresis, ranunculus, elodea, curly rdest.
Cane Harm in Agriculture
For agriculture, common reed is considered a malicious weed, widely used on irrigated lands. Plantations of rice, alfalfa, and cotton are more affected by it. The main control measures for the distribution of reeds are drainage, multiple and deep tillage, desiccation of its upper horizons with a temporary cessation of irrigation, alternating seeding of rice with irrigated crops.
Reed is an excellent decoration element that gives the environment a touch of exoticism and some sophistication, so it is often a key component in the design of parks and gardens.
Common reed: use in medicine
In addition to practical qualities, reed has a number of medicinal properties that were first determined by physicians of the East. In China, its rhizomes were considered an antidote for poisoning with seafood and fish, used as an antiemetic and choleretic agent, and was prescribed for colds and urinary tract diseases. Cane leaves contain vitamin C, starch, sugar, carotene and amino acids, and the stems are rich in cellulose.
In scientific domestic medicine, common reed is not used. Herbalists of Siberian lands recommend a decoction of its shoots for the treatment of cystitis, edema, colds, as well as diseases of the prostate gland. It shows its healing properties in combination with the mountaineer bird and sorrel. Infusion of reed shoots is recommended for anemia, vitamin deficiencies and a general decline in physical strength. Alcohol tincture from leaves has diuretic properties.
In dried form, a powder is made from them, which are sprinkled with poorly healing ulcers and festering wounds. The mucous secretions of the stems process the places of insect bites. With intestinal and gastric diseases, cane is recommended in the diet as a component of dietary nutrition. In case of poisoning, fresh ashes of reed stems are used as an
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Harvesting of young stems and reed leaves is carried out in May-June. They need to be dried in a ventilated room (in attics, under a canopy), where the raw materials are laid out in a thin layer and periodically turned over.
Rhizomes of reed are taken from the bottom of the reservoir with a pitchfork, rake and other improvised tools. Then they are washed under cold water, small roots and aboveground parts are cut off, air dried for several hours, and then dried in ovens, ovens, dryers at a temperature of 55-60 degrees. Signs of well-dried raw materials are cracking with crunch, sweet taste, pleasant smell. Dried rhizomes are stored for about 3 years, stems and leaves - 1 year.
Cane in cooking
Young reed stalks are edible and taste like asparagus. In the hunger years, one even had to stock up on reeds, the flour from the rhizomes of which was mixed with the usual deficit, enormous in those terrible times. Rhizomes and young reed shoots are eaten raw, added to salads, pickled, baked; roasted in crushed form brew and drink as a substitute for coffee.
There are no particular contraindications to the use of cane. However, it is still not recommended to use flour on its basis in large quantities in culinary products due to the high fiber content.
Reed is a plant that resists diseases in the majority. A spider mite is the main pest that damages the stalk of common reed when the latter grows under adverse conditions (low humidity and poor watering).