the reed; a genus of the digynia order, belonging to the triandra class of plants.

Species. Of this genus there are six species. 1. The Phragmites, or common marsh-reed, which grows by the sides of rivers and in standing waters. 2. The denax, or manured reed. This is a native of warm countries, but will bear the cold of our moderate winters in the open air. It dies to the surface in autumn, but appears again in the spring, and, if kept supplied with water, will grow 10 or 12 feet high in one summer. The stalks of this are brought from Spain and Portugal; and are used by the weavers, as also for making fishing-rods. 3. The versicolor, or Indian variegated reed, is supposed to be a variety of the second, differing from it only in having variegated leaves. 4. The bambou, or bamboo *, is a native of the East Indies and some parts of America. Some of these plants, when kept in boxes, in this country arise to the height of 20 feet; and, were the boxes high enough to admit them, they would in appearance rise to double that height. Some of these stems are as large as a man's wrist; but in general are as big as walking-sticks, for which purpose they are as fit as those that are imported from India *. 5. The arborea, with a tree-like stalk, differs from the former only in having narrower leaves. 6. The orientalis is what the Turks use as writing-pens; it grows in a valley near mount Athos, as also on the banks of the river Jordan. None of these plants are at present to be found in Britain.

Culture. As all these plants grow naturally in low marshy lands, they must be supplied with plenty of water. The second kind requires little care; the third is more delicate, and requires to be kept in pots. The fourth, fifth, and sixth sorts must be preserved in boxes. They are to be planted in tubs filled with rich earth, and plentifully supplied with water. When the tubs decay, they may be suffered to grow into the tan, which will encourage them to grow to a larger size; but care must be taken, when the bed is refreshed with new tan, to leave a sufficient quantity of old tan about the roots of the plants; for if they are too much bared and the new tan laid near them, when that heats, it will scorch their roots, so that the plants are sometimes destroyed by it.