Phragmites communis.
Botanical name:
Phragmites communis Trin. Gramineae. Bennels. Reed.
Cosmopolitan. In 1751-68, Father Baegert says he saw the natives of the Californian peninsula "eat the roots of the common reed, just as they were taken out of the water." Durand and Hilgard state that this is the grass from which the Indians of Tejon Valley extract their sugar, and it is elsewhere stated that the gum which exudes from the stalks is collected by the Indians and gathered into balls to be eaten at pleasure. The gum is a sweet, manna-like substance.
Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.
