Sowing the Seeds

The other day I went for a beautiful long walk through the Panboola Wetlands.

The wetlands is a wonderful place to visit, especially if you are a bird watcher as it is teeming with birdlife. We saw many Egret’s and Swamp Hen’s foraging through the billabongs.

I of course, was most entranced with the absolutely beautiful and graceful Common Reed (Phragmites australis) that was growing so abundantly.

This native grass is also known as feather grass or thatch reed. It grows prolifically all over these wetlands and is excellent for providing habitat and food from the seed heads for the many water birds there. The reeds also provide a home for insects, frogs and lizards too.

Apparently the reeds were used by Indigenous Australians to make rafts which were then used on the lagoons for helping to gather food such as fish. The underground roots are also edible.

It would have to be one of my favourite Native Australian Grasses, so tall and graceful at 2 to 3 metres in height.