Yes Virginia, uh, I mean Bob...such reeds are known to have grown...and
still are growing (I presume) in S. CA.
http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Phragmites
%20australis&ttime=1160531280

There's a Carrizo Gorge, Carrizob Badlands, Carrizo Creek (& Valley),
etc. in San Diego/Imperial counties.

(apparently Carrizozo, NM got its name for the abundance of such reeds
in that area) 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Bob Skiles
>Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:17 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: carrizo = phragmites in SoCal?
>
>... the term "carrizo" in the quotation below (and as used by 
>the Spanish chroniclers in western Texas) referred to the 
>phragmites australis reed ... 
>
>i've seen the word "carrizo" used by early Spanish chroniclers 
>referring to source material for the cane arrows made by the 
>Indians in the area of the southern California missions, too, 
>which clearly (by contextual descriptions of the arrows) 
>refers to some type of cane or reed, but I'm not sure it 
>referred to phragmites ... did phragmites australis (or 
>communis) grow along streams in southern California?
>
>Bob Skiles
>
>
>> In James L. Haley's <italic>Apaches: A History and Culture Portrait 
>> (</italic>University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), the author says the 
>> Apache of New Mexico and west Texas made two kinds of 
>arrows, hardwood or cane.
>> Hardwoods were "preferably mountain mahogany, Apache plume, or 
>> mulberry, and some Chiricahuas became known for arrows of 
>desert broom 
>> (<italic>Baccharis sarothroides</italic>)." (p. 109)  Cane 
>arrows were 
>> made from carrizo, and included a hardwood foreshaft four to six 
>> inches long.
>>
>
>
>~~~
>"Smithers! Get that bedlamite to an alienist." ~ C. Monty Burns
>