Links to our research
additional information about phragmites
This is our research before we started our project.
This is not in our wording. We took from different sites and combined them.
Research for Phragmites
- Overwhelm Them-In nature only the strongest survive. Weeds are tough but even they have natural plant enemies. In most cases, it’s simply a matter of selecting the right ground cover or garden plants that are more efficient at fighting for water, sun and nutrients found in the soil. This is especially true with lawns. A healthy carpet of grass will choke out most weeds.
- Phragmites australis subsp. australis is causing serious problems for many other North American hydrophyte wetland plants, including the native Phragmites australis subsp. americanus. Gallic acid released by Phragmites is degraded by ultraviolet light to produce mesoxalic acid, effectively hitting susceptible plants and seedlings with two harmful toxins.[6][7] Phragmites are so difficult to control that one of the most effective methods of eradicating the plant is to burn it over 2-3 seasons. The roots grow so deep and strong that one burn is not enough.[8]
- (Gallic acid is a trihydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid, a type of organic acid, also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves,oak bark, and other plants.[1] The chemical formula is C6H2(OH)3COOH. Gallic acid is found both free and as part of hydrolyzable tannins. an acid extracted from oak galls and other vegetable products, formerly used in making ink.)
- Mesoxalic acid, also called oxomalonic acidor ketomalonic acid, is an organic compound with formula C3H2O5 or HO-(C=O)3-OH.
Mesoxalic acid readily absorbs and reacts with water to form a product commonly called "mesoxalic acid (mono)hydrate", more properly dihydroxymalonic acid, HO-(C=O)-C(OH)2-(C=O)-OH.[1] In product catalogs and other contexts, the terms "mesoxalic acid", "oxomalonic acid", etc. often refer to this "hydrated" compound. In particular, the product traded as "sodium mesoxalate monohydrate" is almost always sodium dihydroxymalonate.
- Food[edit]
- Animals that eat it--->Birds eat the seeds of Common Reeds, and Muskrats eat the rhizomes. However, this plant is more important to wildlife as protection and cover. Because it is so tall, Common Reed can hide big animals, such as White-tailed Deer, as well as many small animals, such as frogs and insects.
- Other uses[edit]
In the Philippines, Phragmites is known by the local name "tambo". Reed stands flower in December, and the blooms are harvested and bundled into brooms called "walis". Hence the common name of household brooms is "walis tambo".
In Australian Aboriginal cultures, reeds were used to make weapons like spears for hunting game.[12]
In Romania it is used to produce paper
- Phragmites have no natural enemy.(no plant)
- NON NATIVE-->The native type of Phragmites is differentiated from the non-native type by leaf color and stem texture. The native type is light green in color and has a smooth and shiny stem texture. Comparatively, the non-native species is dark green in color with a rough and non-shiny stem texture. Another notable difference is that the native type sheds its leaf sheath while the non-native species does not.
- In the early 19th century, the non-native variety, most likely European in origin, appeared in coastal ports in the eastern United States. The rapid spread of Phragmites in the 20th century was probably related to the construction of railroads and major roadways, habitat disturbance, shoreline development, pollution and eutrophication.
- Phragmites can grow up to eighteen feet tall
- vegetation can cut your skin
- http://www.fws.gov/gomcp/pdfs/phragmitesQA_factsheet.pdf
- sugar helps it stick when you make the pattern