What is that tall grass that grows wild in Southern Alabama? It turns brown in the winter and grows waist high

Question

I think it might be Delta grass? It does tend to grow around rivers and near Mobile Bay, but I've seen it grow away from water as well. Its stalks are wide and thick and they grow close together, forming a wall you would fear walking through because it just seems like the perfect hiding place for snakes. I grew up playing in a wooded pine-tree lot of this type of grass and the name just escapes me.

Answer 1

Phragmites australis, the common reed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phragmites

is found in Mobile River Delta

see session 3 of this site

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:uZQ...

More photos:

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_qu...

Might be it`s the grass you are looking for.

15 houres later:

Might be it`s one of these:

Profile of Spartina alterniflora Loisel, height about 4 feet ( or another species of this genus to find clicking on "Spartina" on this site ):

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symb...

Profile of Miscanthus sinensis Andersson, height more than 5 feet ( you ca should a look to other species of this genus too ):

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symb...

This site, list "Rare Plants of the ( Mobile ) Delta"

http://www.alabamawildlife.org/stewardsh...

shows three grasses and the height of one of them is about 5 feet:

Brachiaria platyphylla profile:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symb...

http://www.noble.org/WebApps/PlantImageG...

Bamboo or pampas grass ( Cortaderia ) or corn are giant grasses too, but you`ll know them I suppose, therefore no profile.