§1 Plant
Arundo donax L.
vernacular giant reed — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid, Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Arundo
§2a
Native status, by region
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
- PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
- PR Puerto Rico Introduced
- VI U.S. Virgin Islands Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 226 counties across 21 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Medium
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 7 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 220 min.
- Precipitation
- 35–65 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.8–7
- Root depth
- 24 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 9 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Spread rate
- None
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 226 counties across 21 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 9 I ▾
California view state ↗ 25 I ▾
- Alameda 06001
- Butte 06007
- Contra Costa 06013
- Glenn 06021
- Imperial 06025
- Inyo 06027
- Kern 06029
- Los Angeles 06037
- Mendocino 06045
- Monterey 06053
- Napa 06055
- Orange 06059
- Riverside 06065
- Sacramento 06067
- San Diego 06073
- San Joaquin 06077
- San Luis Obispo 06079
- San Mateo 06081
- Santa Barbara 06083
- Solano 06095
- Sonoma 06097
- Stanislaus 06099
- Sutter 06101
- Ventura 06111
- Yolo 06113
Florida view state ↗ 22 I ▾
- Alachua 12001
- Brevard 12009
- Citrus 12017
- Collier 12021
- Columbia 12023
- Escambia 12033
- Franklin 12037
- Hernando 12053
- Highlands 12055
- Hillsborough 12057
- Lake 12069
- Lee 12071
- Leon 12073
- Marion 12083
- Miami-Dade 12086
- Monroe 12087
- Nassau 12089
- Okaloosa 12091
- Polk 12105
- Santa Rosa 12113
- Seminole 12117
- Wakulla 12129
Georgia view state ↗ 5 I ▾
Hawaii view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 11 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 37 I ▾
- Allen 22003
- Avoyelles 22009
- Bienville 22013
- Bossier 22015
- Caddo 22017
- Cameron 22023
- Claiborne 22027
- De Soto 22031
- East Baton Rouge 22033
- East Feliciana 22037
- Franklin 22041
- Iberville 22047
- Jefferson 22051
- Lafayette 22055
- Lincoln 22061
- Livingston 22063
- Madison 22065
- Morehouse 22067
- Natchitoches 22069
- Orleans 22071
- Ouachita 22073
- Plaquemines 22075
- Red River 22081
- Richland 22083
- Sabine 22085
- St. Charles 22089
- St. John the Baptist 22095
- St. Martin 22099
- St. Mary 22101
- Tensas 22107
- Terrebonne 22109
- Union 22111
- Vermilion 22113
- Webster 22119
- West Carroll 22123
- West Feliciana 22125
- Winn 22127
Mississippi view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Missouri view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 8 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 5 I ▾
South Carolina view state ↗ 14 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 20 I ▾
Texas view state ↗ 36 I ▾
- Aransas 48007
- Austin 48015
- Bastrop 48021
- Bell 48027
- Bexar 48029
- Brazos 48041
- Brewster 48043
- Brown 48049
- Burleson 48051
- Cameron 48061
- Chambers 48071
- Comal 48091
- Dallas 48113
- Erath 48143
- Fayette 48149
- Fort Bend 48157
- Galveston 48167
- Garza 48169
- Grayson 48181
- Hidalgo 48215
- Houston 48225
- Jack 48237
- Johnson 48251
- Kenedy 48261
- Kimble 48267
- Leon 48289
- Maverick 48323
- Montgomery 48339
- Nacogdoches 48347
- Parker 48367
- Robertson 48395
- Sabine 48403
- Tarrant 48439
- Travis 48453
- Webb 48479
- Zapata 48505
Utah view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 8 I ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 2 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ARDO4 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2703041 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z