Sugar Cane

Reeds (aka bamboo or papyrus) were added in the v1.0.11 patch. They can be found randomly on grass or dirt tiles that are near water and can be up to four blocks tall, more reeds (or other blocks) can be placed on top of it. There appears to be no pattern to the spawn algorithm. Reeds may occasionally grow in tundra Biomes, but are extremely hard to find because Ice replaces all water next to land.

Like Cacti, removing the bottom part causes all parts above it to be removed as well, allowing for quick harvesting; one can also "shave" off the upper sections and leave the bottom section planted. It can be crafted into paper.

Farming reeds is similar to farming crops. Like the real plant, reeds must be planted on a grass/dirt block immediately adjacent to water, unlike crops which can be within four blocks of water. Diagonal blocks, as well as blocks above or below the water stream, won't allow it to be placed. If it can be placed on a tile, it will grow there. Unlike wheat, it does not require a tilled field to grow. Planted reeds grow quickly to a height of three blocks, however, extra reed blocks can be permanently added if heights over 3 are desired. This has not been confirmed yet, but they are thought to grow faster when the player is within a certain vicinity of them.

You can plant reeds on a tile covered in snow even if there is no water adjacent to it.

You can walk through Reeds, but water will not pass through it. This makes it a convenient material for water gates.

If the water source is removed, when the Reeds next grow, the game will realize it has no adjacent water, and the Reeds will disintegrate, leaving two Reed items instead of one. This is not as efficient as growing Reeds normally, because you must replace the water supply to re-plant the Reeds.

Reeds are completely fireproof. They can block lava flows, and when lava hits them from above, it is spread out as by a normal block. Neither they nor the block they stand on can be lit on fire with the Flint and Steel, although attempting this still lowers the durability of the Flint and Steel, in a manner similar to glass.

The water/lava blocking ability of reeds includes being placed in the middle of an existing flow (they still need to be adjacent to water).

Reeds are often used for decorating because they are easy to grow and give the place a more modern look.

Reeds will block projectiles as any ordinary block, which means projectiles shot at anything inside or past the reeds will be blocked. However, if you stand in a patch of reeds and fire arrows/throw snowballs, those projectiles will ignore the reeds where your head is located. A Ghast's fireball has yet to be tested though.

Schilf