The perennial herbaceous plant Calamagrostis epigeios, in Russian called ground reed grass, is probably familiar to every European living in the temperate zone. Dense islands of fluffy spikelets are found in abundance in meadows and forests. They are widely used in ornamental gardening and for decorating bouquets, and some medicinal properties of this plant are also known. At the same time, reed grass is a weed that greatly impedes the process of natural reforestation.
What can be called ground reed grass
The Latin name of the genus of this plant comes from two Greek words: "calamos" and "agrostis", which means "reed" and "bent". It came into scientific use thanks to Dioscorides, an ancient Greek naturalist and military doctor.
People often call the ground reedweed a warrior, white herb, zharovets, a forest broom or a broom, a marten, a cutter, a line, a devil, a firefighter, a perepolevitsa, a dry-break,Chapoloty, Chapuga, Steppe Chapolice, Mouse, Couch grass, Pine.
Besides ground reed grass, there are other types of reed grass (sharp, reed, grayish, compressed), also widespread in nature.
Reed grass: description
This is a perennial plant with a height of 80 to 150-160 centimeters, belonging to the grass family. It is characterized by a long, creeping relatively thick horizontal rhizome. It is significant that, even when crushed, but retaining one living bud, the rhizome is able to give life to a new plant.
The stalks of ground reed grass are strong and straight, rough, with two widely spaced nodes. Leaf blades are gray-green in color, can be flat and wide (up to 10 millimeters) or folded and narrow.
The reed inflorescence is a dense lush panicle 20-30 centimeters long, consisting of many spikelets. Spikelets are usually five to seven millimeters long, greenish or purple in color, collected in dense tufts. Spikelet scales are almost equal to each other. The hairs under the flowers are almost twice as long as the latter. The absence of a spikelet rudiment is characteristic.
Reed reed blooms all summer in the morning, bears fruit in August - September. Its fruit is an elongated grain, it falls along with bracts.
Distribution area
Ground reed grass is widespread in many parts of Europe and Asia, mainly in natur altemperate zones. It is also found on other continents as an alien plant.
It grows in abundance in the European part of the former USSR, in the southern regions of Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Caucasus, in the south of the Far East, in Central Asia, in the Crimea.
This plant inhabits mainly mixed and coniferous forests of moderate density, upland meadows, floodplains. Prefers sandy, well-drained soil, but also found in damp shrubs and swampy meadows. Loves the world. It tolerates salinity well. In places of deforestation and burnt areas, dense thickets of ground reed grass often form.
In the formation of grass cover, along with ground reed grass, giant bentgrass, couch grass, some types of bluegrass and other field grasses often dominate.
Medicinal properties
Traditional medicine uses the rhizomes and young shoots of this plant as a medicine. An infusion of them is recommended for use as an anti-inflammatory agent. The medicinal raw material of reed grass is harvested in late autumn or early spring. Rhizomes and shoots should be rinsed with cold water and then dried outdoors in the shade.
Decoction of ground reed rhizomes is a diuretic and is used as a disinfectant to treat a number of urinary tract infections caused by infections.
A decoction is prepared as follows: ten to fifteen grams of dry raw materials should be poured with one glass of water. Bring to a boil and boil for fifteen minutes. Next, the broth should be cooled and filtered. The recommended dose is one tablespoon, repeated three to four times throughout the day.
Useful qualities
Besides some medicinal properties, ground reedgrass has other useful features. He has a long strong rhizome, he is "active" and very unpretentious. Due to this, this cereal is often specially sown where there is a need to strengthen sandy soil - on various embankments and mine dumps.
Often this crop is specially grown in gardens as an ornamental plant, as an element of landscape design of the site. Reed grass is very cold-resistant, if necessary, able to endure prolonged waterlogging. In this regard, it remains decorative until the onset of winter frosts. He does not need shelter in winter.
Cut spikelets of ground reedweed are a beautiful component of winter bouquets of dried flowers and herbs.
Formally, reedgrass is considered a fodder grass, but hay from it is of very mediocre quality.
It is also mentioned that it can be used as a raw material for making paper.
Forest damage
This type of reed grass is a very aggressive plant. Once brought to the meadow, it quickly displaces many other field grasses growing on it. Inhabiting fresh cuttings and burnt areas, it forms such dense thickets in these places that it significantly complicates the restoration of the forest. From-not only self-sowing and undergrowth die for it, but even those young trees that have already reached a considerable age and height.
Reed grass thickets contribute to a very strong desiccation of the soil. They make it difficult for deep penetration of moisture into it, which falls in the form of precipitation. On top of the dried stems of this plant, snowdrifts are kept for a long time, thereby leading to soaking and suffocation of self-sowing and other crops. In addition, forest areas overgrown with reed grass freeze more strongly at low air temperatures. Mice and other pests breed freely in its thickets. Dry reed stalks greatly increase the risk of fires. This leads to the fact that in some places the ground reed grass is fought like a weed.
