Perennial grass; culms erect, 2–4 m tall, occasionally up to 6 m, with stout creeping rhizomes, often also with stolons; leaf-blades broad, flat, 1.5–6 dm long, 1–6 cm broad, glabrous, green or glaucous, the sheaths overlapping; panicle tawny or purplish, 15–40 cm long, the branches ascending, rather densely flowered; spikelets 10–17 mm long, the florets exceeded by the hairs of the rachilla; first glume 2.5–5 mm long; second glume 5.7 mm long; lemmas glabrous, sharp-pointed, not bifid, with long hairs confined to rachilla joints; lowest floret staminate.

Antidote, antiemetic, antipyretic and refrigerant (stem); antiasthmatic, antiemetic, antipyretic, antitussive, depurative, diuretic, febrifuge, lithontripic, sedative, sialogogue and stomachic (root).

Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.
Plants for a Future
Global Invasive Species Database

For condylomata, indurated breast, mammary carcinomata, leukemia, abscesses, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, dropsy, dysuria, flux, gout, hematuria, hemorrhage, hiccup, jaundice, leukemia, lung, nausea, rheumatism, sores, stomach, thirst and typhoid (plant); in the treatment of bronchitis and cholera (leaves); for diarrhoea, fevers, vomiting, coughs with thick dark phlegm, lung abscesses, urinary tract infections and food poisoning (root).