Species

Arundo donax

Common Name(s)

giant reed

Authority

Arundo donax L.

Family

Poaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

ARUDON

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Grasses

Habitat

Often aquatic. Emergent. Moist forest communities, lowland and coastal forest, streamside and gully communities, intertidal areas, shrublands, alluvial areas, roadsides, farm hedges, wastelands, domestic gardens, coastal areas in general. Prefers areas where the soil does not dry out completely.

Features

Clump-forming bamboo-like grass to 8 m. Root mass dense, rhizomes short. Stems hollow, erect, becoming semi-lax, woody. Leaves alternate, 30-90 x 5 cm, parallel veins, bamboo-like, bluish-green (white-striped form is common in cultivation). Seedhead terminal, fluffy.

Similar Taxa

Similar dimensions to Phragmites australis, but Arundo has leaves arranged in two rows, while Phragmites does not. Generally looks like a leafy bamboo, but has much larger leaves arranged in two rows.

Flowering

April

Year Naturalised

1936

Origin

Eurasia, Europe, N Africa

Reason for Introduction

Ornamental

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Perennial. Arundo produces loose clumps of lateral rhizomes, which are thickening underground stems that produce new shoots and plants at intervals along the stems. Little or no seed set in New Zealand. Spreads by rhizomes. Broken stems may occasionally resprout. Dispersed by water and soil movement, garden dumping.

Tolerances

Tolerant of very wet soils, intolerant of drought.

This page last updated on 11 Dec 2018