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Arundo donax
Also called Spanish Reed, Bamboo Reed, Cana Brava, Elephant Grass, Reed, Carrizo Cane, Giant Cane
In Singapore: Carrizo, Variegated Giant Reed, Spanish Reed (Grown in Singapore)
Giant reed is a tall, cane-like perennial grass that forms dense stands, usually growing in damp or wet soils. It spreads mainly by underground rhizomes, so it needs space and containment in gardens.
Arundo donax, the giant reed, is a tall perennial reed or cane species. Other vernacular names include giant cane, Spanish cane, wild cane, and in Spanish, carrizo. The scientific name Arundo and donax are respectively the old Latin and Greek names for reed.
Arundo donax grows in damp soils, either fresh or moderately saline, and is native to the eastern Mediterranean region and across southern Asia to Japan. It has been widely planted and naturalised in the mild temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of both hemispheres, especially in the Mediterranean, California, the western Pacific and the Caribbean and is considered invasive in North America and Oceania. It forms dense stands on disturbed sites, sand dunes, in wetlands and riparian habitats.
Giant reed is adapted to a wide variety of ecological conditions, but is generally associated with riparian and wetland systems. It is distributed across the southern United States from Maryland to California. Plants can grow in a variety of soils, from heavy clays to loose sands and gravelly soils, but prefer wet drained soils, where they produce dense monotypic stands.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Arundo donax by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
