Common Name: common reed, phragmitesScientific Name: Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., Phragmites communisPoaceae (Graminae)Family Name: Poaceae (Graminae) - Grass FamilyIdentification NotesLife Cycleintroduced perennial, reproducing by seed, stout rhizomes and sometimes stolons Culmsupright, very tall, round, smooth, hollow, sometimes purplish, nodes smooth, fallen culms often root at nodes, forms large colonies Leavesblades lanceolate, gray-green, tapering to sharp point, flat, smooth above and below, wrinkle mid-blade, rough margins, scatted very short hairs; rolled in bud; auricles absent; ligule membranous, fringe with short hairs with much longer scattered hairs; Seedheadsterminal panicle, large, dense and plume-like with tufts of white silky hairs, yellowish-brown to purple become light brown when mature and persisting though winter