The Differences Between Arundo, Reed, Miscanthus and Ogi

"This is the day when the world is home, so the fortress is rustling and the reeds are rustling in autumn." This is a poem by Liu Yuxi in the Tang Dynasty. My question is, what is "Lu Di"?

Although I look down on certain encyclopedias, I might as well take a look at it occasionally - on the issue of "Lu Di", they believe that: Lu Di isReed Bamboo /Arundo donax L., Arundo donaxL., Graminaceae. What is reed bamboo? It is a very tall and gray weed, so tall that you have to look up at a wide angle to get a full view of it, making it difficult for those who try to trample to death every unknown grass plant (such as me).

Picture 1: Arundodis

This group of plants that wants to compete with the gods is Arundo donax/Arundo donax Linn., Arundo donax is a perennial herb of the family Gramineae. According to "Zhongzhi", the height of this species is between 3 and 6 meters, far exceeding the upper limit of half of the grass weeds, and comparable to ordinary small trees. But no matter how tall it is, Arundo donax is not bamboo. Its stems are not lignified, so it can only be written as "culm" instead of "gan". The word "gan" is reserved for bamboo. BTW, the stems of Cyperaceae plants are referred to as "culms". Remember, this is a knowledge point.

Picture 2: Reeds and reeds

When mentioning Phragmites australis, one cannot help but think of Phragmites/Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., a genus of Phragmites in the family Poaceae. I happened to take a photo of Phragmites australis and Phragmites australis in the same frame, with the reed on the left and the Phragmites australis on the right. They look the cutest together, with a huge height difference. The adult reeds we usually see are no more than one person tall, and the tallest ones are no taller than Yao Ming. It is enough to identify them by their height alone. However, the description of the height of the reed in "Zhongzhi" is as follows: The stalks are upright, 1-3 (8) meters high. "1~3 meters" is in line with our understanding. The "8" in the brackets is a bit surprising, and it suddenly covered the reed bamboo...

Who has seen an 8-meter-tall reed? At least I have never seen it, but it does exist. Because reeds are a multi-type species widely distributed around the world, they can be found in all kinds of open areas with water sources except in forest habitats. Therefore, there are great differences across the country. Some groups such as Bohu Reed Group >Usually as high as 5~6 meters, and it is not uncommon to exceed 8 meters or even 10 meters. From a nationwide perspective, it is not appropriate to only use height to identify reeds and reeds.

Picture 3: Reed

Picture 4: Reed

Picture 5: Atractylodes

Picture 6: Atractylodes

It is not difficult to distinguish reeds from reeds. As long as you are not blind, you can tell them at a glance. First of all, the leaves of Arundo japonica are wider and densely planted, almost like opposite leaves (Figure 1); the leaves of reed are narrow and thin, and generally sparser than those of Arundobus arundis. Secondly, the inflorescences of reeds are weak and the inflorescences of Phragmites australis are strong and have completely different temperaments. No matter the wind blows or rains, the inflorescences of reeds always remain bold and upward, and will never be blown away by the wind like reeds and become "scattered by dark clouds and out of breath". Please look at Figure 6. This is a clump of reed bamboo growing in the military port of the ancient town of Jiaonan. The sea breeze has blown away the inflorescences, but it is still standing, which is commendable.

Picture 7: Arundodium leucophylla

Nowadays, in urban parks, reeds and reeds (generally Arundo spp.) are cultivated artificially to create waterside landscapes. The ancients loved reeds more, and educated people were usually full of coquettishness. When they saw the reeds by the water, they couldn't help but write poetry. The poem says, "Jianjia is green, and white dew is frost." "Jianjia" refers to reeds. There are many names given to reeds by the ancients, which illustrates the importance of reeds from one aspect. Due to limited knowledge, I will not go into details to avoid loopholes.

I highly doubt that the ancients couldn't distinguish reeds from reeds, and maybe they were merged into reeds. Not only the ancients couldn't tell the difference, but modern people are even more likely not to recognize it. If you search using "Reed Flowers" as the keyword, most of the results you get are Ogi or Miscanthus, and closely related species. There is a big difference between these two grasses and reeds, so there is no need to go into details. However, it is not easy to distinguish between awns and reeds. It is easy when you see them in person, but it is difficult to explain them when you look at photos... .

Picture 8: Inflorescence of awn

Picture 9: Spotted awn, with yellow spots on the leaves

The plant in the picture above is Miscanthus/Miscanthus sinensis. It was originally a grass in the wilderness, but now it is bred as an ornamental grass, such as Miscanthus tenuifolia, Miscanthus variegata, etc. However,荻/Miscanthus sacchariflorus has never been collected and is still struggling to make a living in the wild. The inflorescences of Mang and Di are quite similar, but they are different; according to previous conclusions, Mang is like a broom and Di is like a whisk. However, you have to ask the wind to determine what it looks like. When the wind is strong, it can blow the awns into dust. The key is to look at the details.

Figure 10: Inflorescence of awn

Picture 11: Ogi

Picture 12: Ogi

First, the reason why awns are called awns is because the spikelets have "one awn between the second lemma lobes", while the spikelets of Ophiophyllum do not have this. Here we should pay attention to distinguish between "awn" and "hair". The former is hard and the latter is soft. Although the inflorescences of Ogi have no awns, they are densely covered with soft hairs. Second, the stalks of Di are "nodular and pubescent", while the stalks of Miscanthus are hairless (see Figure 9), or have sparse pubescence below the inflorescence. The plant in Figure 11 is Ophiopogon sativa. Although it is a distant view, the "puffs" on the nodes are clearly visible. In Figure 12, the small white hairballs at the junction of the leaves and the stem are visible.

There are also "mao", and there are many grass plants related to this word, but the only common ones in the north are Imperata/Imperata cylindrica. The poem says, "The white grass floats on the green water, and the anthurium stirs the clear waves." Oh no, it should be "There is a dead jūn in the wild, and the white grass wraps it; there is a girl who is pregnant with spring, and good luck lures her" , could this thing still be a "weapon for picking up girls" in the distant pre-Qin Dynasty? not necessarily. The commonly used technique in "The Book of Songs" is "Fu Bixing", which is "Xing". "Those who are Xing are to mention other things first to trigger the words to be chanted." It is just an introduction.

Picture 13: Cogongrass

Imperata is very different from the above-mentioned species. The stalk height is only about 80 centimeters. Its panicles are extremely dense and do not look like a cone, but rather resemble the tail of some animal. The underground stems of Imperata cogongrass are as white as jade, sweet and juicy, and were considered a treasure when I was a child. I wonder how many friends have tasted it? That's it, over.