NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art
Indigenous Plants & Native Uses in the Northeast

PHRAGMITES PHRAGMITES
(Phragmites Communis)
PHRAGMITES Food: The seeds were winnowed and made into a flour for breads and gruel.

Technology: Reeds were used to make woven frames for drying berries and were also used to make sewn mats for summer house cover. Western Native American duck hunting arrows utilized the Phragmites stalk. Europeans used this reed as a pen quill.

Note: Also called Reed Grass. Although indigenous to all parts of the world, this grass is highly invasive, and has been steadily moving into the Northeast with the continued distrucion of natural wetland habitats.


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