Flora of North America species comparison

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Phragmites australis

common reed, giant reed, phragmite commun, roseau commun
Culms

1-4 m tall, 0.5-1.5 cm thick, erect.
Panicles

15-35 cm long, 8-20 cm wide, ovoid to lanceoloid, often purplish when young, straw-colored at maturity;

rachilla hairs (4)6-10 mm.
Spikelets

with 3-10 florets.
Caryopses

2-3 mm, rarely maturing.
Ligules

about 1 mm, composed of hairs;

blades 15-40 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, long-acuminate, disarticulating from the sheath at maturity.
Lower

glumes 3-7 mm;

upper glumes (4)5-10 mm;

lemmas 8-15 mm, glabrous, linear, margins somewhat inrolled, apices long-acuminate;

paleas 3-4 mm, membranous;

anthers 1.5-2 mm, purplish;

styles persistent.
2n

= 36, 42, 44, 46, 48, 49-54, 72, 84, 96, 120.

Phragmites australis
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; PR; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Phragmites australis grows in wet or muddy ground along waterways, in saline or freshwater marshes, and in sloughs throughout North America. Its tall, leafy, often persistent culms and plumose panicles make it one of our easier species to recognize. In Florida, Neyraudia reynaudiana is sometimes mistaken for P. australis, but the former has glabrous internodes and pilose lemmas.

It is also one of the most widely distributed flowering plants, growing in most temperate and tropical regions of the world, spreading quickly by rhizomes. Once established, it is difficult to eradicate. Its uses include thatching, lattices, arrow shafts, construction boards, mats, and erosion control, and it was used in the past to make cigarettes and superior pen quills.

Phragmites karka (Retz.) Trin. ex Steud. is sometimes attributed to the Flora region. It supposedly differs from P. australis as shown below, but all the characters intergrade. For this reason, they are treated here as components of a single species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Blades smooth on the abaxial surfaces, the apices filiform, flexible; rachilla hairs 6-10 mm long; upper glumes 5-10 mm long
P. australis
1. Blades scabrous on the abaxial surface, the apices attenuate, stiff; rachilla hairs 4-7mm long; upper glumes 4-6 mm long
P. karka
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 10.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Arundinoideae > tribe Arundineae > Phragmites
Subordinate taxa
P. australis, P. karka
Synonyms P. communis, P. karka
Name authority (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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