It grows beside rivers.   The stems can reach 2m in height.

  Have you ever used its blade for a whistle - by putting the blade between your thumbs and blowing? It works well.

  Underground shoots called rhizomes enable it to grow in big patches.

   Sometime variegated forms of this grass are grown in gardens. - wide leaves with longitudinal white stripes

   Could Pharaoh's cows have been eating Reed Canary-grass?

   Well, the Global Invasive species Data base of IUCN base says it is an invasive species in Egypt now and it may or may not be native - and that it is native in Iraq near by. So let's assume they did. It produces nutritious, palatable, succulent herbage for pasture, silage, and hay.

   So if you see a tall grass beside a river, sticking out of the snow it has a good chance of being Reed Canary-grass.

   Easy!

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   Of course, when looking for "the largest grass beside a river or marsh" you just might just come across one of two other much, much less common plants, but which fit the description "big" and "grass-like"

1.) The Common Reed (another type of grass) - see right (Phragmites australis)

   As most people who have studied grasses will tell you, you can distinguish Reed Canary-grass from the Reed by looking at the ligule - the little membrane that sticks up at the blade sheath junction. In the Canary-grass (left) it IS a membrane. In the Reed (Right) it is a row of hairs.

2.) The Reed mace (wrongly called Bulrush) (which is not a grass at all.) (Typha latifolia)

   I would have to walk 7 km east or 4 km north respectively to find these plants - which I am not going to do - not in this snow anyway. So maybe I'll talk about these in January 2011 (or if the snow is still covering the smaller grasses I may be forced to in February this year.!)

   Put on your wellies or hiking boots and go for a walk beside a river near you and see if you can see some Reed Canary-grass