A Local Marsh with an Exotic Twist

 

This past weekend, I went out with the family to a waterfowl preserve in Oconto, WI. Along the way, we encountered a plant very familiar to our area.

 

This plant grows everywhere, and it is especially prevelant along the edges of Highway 41 or 29. It's taken over many different areas, but until recently, I had no idea what it was. I always just thought it was a pretty, marsh-y reed. Its scientific name is phragmites australis, but it's better known as a phragmite (or common reed). You can read more about it here. And, like so many plants in our area, it does not naturally come from Wisconsin, or even the United States.

Scientists think that they came from the Middle East, and now they have spread to North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

They grow to be quite large. Here's the head of the plant compared to my hand.



The Wisconsin Wetlands Association is concerned; not only do these plants spread like wildfire, but they are drowning out cattails, which ARE native to Wisconsin. Even worse, they cause a greater fire risk than other plants. You can read more about how they are observing and containing this problem at their website.  This website also gives great information about how to identify the native versus non-native species.

At the marsh, we were able to see this problem growing before our eyes.

By this pond, the phragmites were definitely outnumbering the cattails.

 

 

They are beautiful plants, however, and we enjoyed our afternoon outside. We will only have a few more days like this before the snow flies!

 

 

 

 

 

This goldenrod wasn't ready to admit that winter is coming.

 

 







Of course, my blog post wouldn't be complete without tying it in to a biblical topic in some way. This one was easy, since reeds are mentioned frequently in biblical times. Whether being used for arrows, baskets, measuring sticks, roofing, or pens, reeds were a frequent tool in both the Old and New Testament.