Bamboos are woody reed-like grasses that have a shrubby growth habit. The three species featured here are popular ornamentals that were introduced and planted widely but other species and cultivars are also available in the nursery trade. These species have been reported by numerous sources as being invasive in natural areas (see below). Giant or switch cane (Arundinaria gigantea) is the only species of bamboo native to the U.S. It is found throughout the Southeast just into southern Maryland and is about the size of Pseudosasa.

This woody grass or bamboo becomes 4-24' tall. Primary culms are devoid of leaves below, while above they have ascending leafy branches. Primary culms are green, terete, hollow, glabrous, and up to 1' across (rarely more), becoming increasingly woody below. Secondary culms from lateral branches are similar to the primary culms, except they are more narrow (less than ¼' across). Most primary culms remain erect, although sometimes they bend sideways from the weight of their leaves and lateral branches, particularly when there is an absence of support from adjacent vegetation. Alternate evergreen leaves develop toward the apex of the primary culm and along its lateral branches. The blades of these leaves are 5-12' long, ¾-1½' across, and medium green; they are narrowly lanceolate to elliptic in shape and entire (smooth) along their margins, except for minute teeth. The leaf blades are glabrous to nearly glabrous along their upper surfaces, while their lower surfaces are glabrous to sparsely short-pubescent. The leaf blades have a tessellated appearance as a result of the smaller cross-veins that interconnect the parallel veins. The petioles of the leaves are short and slender (usually less than ¼' in length). Leaf sheaths are glabrous to sparsely short-pubescent, except toward their apices, where bristly hairs occur. Like other bamboo species, Giant Cane rarely flowers. When this occurs, either racemes or simple panicles of spikelets are produced from the apex of the primary culm and fertile lateral branches. Unlike sterile lateral branches (as described above), fertile lateral branches produce either bladeless sheaths or sheaths with rudimentary blades. Individual spikelets are 1¼-2½' long and 8 mm. (1/3') across, consisting of a pair of glumes at the bottom and 2 overlapping ranks of 6-14 lemmas above. The smaller glume is 2-6 mm. long, while the larger glume is 8-12 mm. long. The lemmas are 15-24 mm. long and keeled along their outer sides, tapering to acute tips or short awns (the latter up to 4 mm. in length). Individual grains are 10-12 mm. long and ellipsoid in shape. The blooming period occurs during the spring or summer. The florets of the spikelets are cross-pollinated by wind. Individual plants bloom only once when they are 10-20 years old, after which they die down. The root system produces long rhizomes, from which clonal colonies of plants are produced. This is the main method of reproduction.

Giant cane is a native, warm season, robust, rhizomatous perennial grass. The height is between 4 and 20 feet. The leaf blade is 5 to 12 inches long, at least 1/2 inch wide, and tapers to a sharp point. Generally, it has groups of 3 to 5 blades at end of small branches and a short petiole between the blade and sheath. The leaf sheath is rounded and overlapping. The ligule is a row of short hair. The stem is hollow, woody. The seedhead is an open panicle with 8 to 12 spikelets per seedhead.

Distribution: For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

cane, switchcane

Cane occurs from southern New York south to central Florida and west to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois [18,58]. Plants Database provides a distributional map of cane and its infrataxa.

Infrataxa: Giant cane has a distribution similar to cane in general, but does not occur in New York. Switch cane has a distribution similar to that of cane throughout the Atlantic and Southern Coastal Plains, but it does not occur in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, or West Virginia [100].

Giant Cane is native to southern Illinois, where it is occasional. Illinois lies along the northern range limit of this species. Populations of this grass within the state have declined as a result of development, and large colonies (or canebrakes) have become uncommon. Habitats include bottomland woodlands, flood-prone flatwoods, swamps and edges of swamps, low areas along rivers, bottoms and lower slopes of rocky canyons, and gravelly seeps. While fire will top-kill individual plants of Giant Cane, it is able to regenerate new plants from its extensive rhizomes. Occasional wildfires are beneficial in maintaining populations of this grass if they reduce competition from trees and large shrubs.

(key to state/province abbreviations)
UNITED STATES

AL	AR	DE	FL	GA	IL	IN	KS	KY	LA
MD	MS	MO	NJ	NY	NC	OH	OK	SC	TN
TX	VA	WV

More info on this topic.

This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [3]:

None

These species of bamboo have been reported to be invasive in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast as well as some sites in the western and southwestern U.S. Infestations are commonly associated with new and very old residences from which they’ve escaped.

Asia

Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl.:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

More info for the term: caryopsis

This description provides characteristics that may be relevant to fire ecology, and is not meant for identification. Keys for identification of cane are available (e.g. [48,64,77,97]).

Cane is a native, perennial, evergreen grass that grows to a height of 6.6 to 32.8 feet (2-10 m). The coarse stems are round and hollow, 0.7 to 3 inches (2-7.6 cm) thick, and generally survive for about 10 years. Leaves range from 3.9 to 11.8 inches (10-30 cm) in length and from 0.8 to 1.6 inches (2-4 cm) wide. The flowers are racemes or simple panicles with several spikelets 1.6 to 2.8 inches (4-7 cm) long and 0.3 inch (8 mm) wide. The fruit is a caryopsis, 0.3 inch (8 mm) long and 0.1 inch (3 mm) wide. Cane forms an extensive system of tough, thick rhizomes [18,48,51,64,77]. Rhizomes vary in size but rarely are larger than 0.75 inch (1.9 cm) in diameter [55].

Physiology:
Flooding―Cane has high flood tolerance and is well adapted to waterlogged soils and frequently flooded sites [14,18,62].

• Plant: woody stems varying from about ¼ in. (arrow) to 3-4 in. diameter (common and golden) with hollow centers and solid joints; grow to heights of 7-8 ft. (arrow) to 16-40 ft. (common and golden).
• Leaves: strap-shaped and tapering with pointed tips, tough, somewhat papery or leathery, up to 10 in. long and 1-2 in. across.
• Flowers, fruits and seeds: flowering is infrequent and unpredictable; flowers are grasslike and not especially showy.
• Spreads: by vegetative means through vigorous rhizomatous growth.
• Look-alikes: other bamboos, including native giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) and some tall grasses.

Perennials, Aquatic, growing in or on water, Aquatic, leaves emergent, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems woody, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems compressed, flattened, or sulcate, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with i nflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 6 m or taller, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves pseudo-petiolate, petiole attached to sheath, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaves borne on branches, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaves with distinct crossveins, net-like transverse veins, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf auricules setose or ciliate, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades 2 or more cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence racemose, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomeru le, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence a single spikelet, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel hairy, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemm a straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea auriculate or bowed out at base, Stamens 3, Styles 1, Stigmas 3, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Type fragment for Arundinaria tecta var. distachya Rupr.
Catalog Number: US 2808999
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): T. Nuttall
Locality: Philadelphia., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North America

More info for the terms: alliance, association, bog, codominant, cover, fern, hardwood, mesic, natural, series, shrub, shrubs, swamp, tree, xeric

Extensive monotypic stands of cane known as canebrakes were a dominant landscape
feature in the southeastern United States at the time of European settlement.
Historical accounts indicated that hundreds of thousands of acres were
characterized by this ecosystem. Canebrakes disappeared rapidly following
European settlement because of a combination of overgrazing, altered burning
regimes, and agricultural land clearing [7,73,74,88]. It is estimated that there has been a 98% decline
in canebrakes communities [14,69]. Today cane exists as an important understory
component in a variety of deciduous and evergreen forest and shrub types.

Schafale and Weakley [84] describe 2
plant communities in the wet pine flatwood forests of North Carolina in which
cane is a codominant: longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)/cane and loblolly
pine (P. taeda)/cane. These communities are similar in composition with a
sparse canopy of pines and a mid-story dominated by cane. The understory is
typically a mixture of shrubs, including inkberry (Ilex glabra), creeping
blueberry (Vaccinium crassifolium), wax myrtle (Morella cerifera),
and blue huckleberry (Gaylussacia frondosa); and grasses, including
pineland threeawn (Aristida stricta), cutover muhly (Muhlenbergia
expansa), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and toothache
grass (Ctenium aromaticum).
A cane shrubland alliance occurs on floodplains and alluvial soils in eastern
Oklahoma [52]. Common associates in this alliance include boxelder (Acer negundo),
river birch (Betula nigra),
smallspike false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica),
jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin),
and eastern poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).
Kologski [60] describes a longleaf pine/cane community
type in the Green Swamp of the North Carolina coastal plain. This type is
described as a wetter pine savanna community.
In Missouri cane is a component of the swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii)-Shumard's
oak (Q. shumardii)- sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)/cane mesic
floodplain forest alliance [86].
Switch cane: Glitzenstein and others [40] describe a "globally rare" woodland association in
South Carolina of longleaf pine-switch cane-sweetgum-bushy bluestem
(Andropogon glomeratus)-hooded pitcher plant (Sarracenia minor).
In this association switch cane and bushy bluestem usually comprise the
majority of the plant cover, and the tree canopy cover is generally less than 10% [40].
A pond pine (P. serotina)/switchcane forest type occurs in the North
Carolina coastal plain where the pine overstory is typically scattered and
inkberry is an abundant shrub [54].
In addition to the plant communities discussed above, where cane is a dominant or codominant,
there are a variety of other communities in which cane occurs in
various levels of importance. Publications that discuss plant communities in which
cane and switch may occur are listed below. The list is neither restrictive nor all inclusive.
AL:

• 
  

  
  Cane―shortleaf pine (P. echinata)-hardwoods,
  southern red oak (Q. falcata)-mixed oak, chestnut oak (Q. prinus), loblolly
  pine-upland hardwoods, loblolly pine-lowland hardwoods, sweetgum-yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera),
  and swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora)-sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana)
  forest types in the Clay Hills Region of the Hilly Coastal Plain Province [2]

• 
  

  
  bogs in the blackgum (N. sylvatica)-yellow-poplar-azalea
  (Rhododendron canescens) community type in broad swales that are
  often bisected by ephemeral streams

• 
  

  
  scarlet oak (Q. coccinea)-flowering
  dogwood (Cornus florida)-sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora)
  community type on upland sites and along perennial stream sites

• 
  

  
  mesic slash pine (P. elliottii)-longleaf pine-deerberry (V. stamineum)
  vegetation type in the southern loam hills [11]

• 
  

  
  sweetgum-water oak (Q. nigra)-red maple (Acer
  rubrum) stream bottom community type

• 
  

  
  white oak (Q. alba) mesic upland community type [43]

• 
  

  
  hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)-American beech
  (Fagus grandifolia) community type in the Warrior River basin [47]

FL:

• 
  

  
  Cane―hydric hammocks in a wetland forest type composed of live oak (Q. virginiana),
  laurel oak (Q. laurifolia), cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto),
  southern red-cedar (Juniperus silicicola), sweetgum, hornbeam (Carpinus
  caroliniana), loblolly pine, Florida elm (Ulmus americana var. floridana), and red maple [102]

• 
  

  
  cane often grows in association with the endangered
  conifer, Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), in the oak-gum-cypress
  (Taxodium spp.) or oak-pine types in the Apalachicola River basin in northern Florida [95]

GA:

• 
  

  
  Cane―the following communities in the Okefenokee Swamp:
  island hammocks in association with water oak, willow oak (Q. phellos),
  and hairytwig huckleberry (G. tomentosa); and moist
  pine barrens in association with pond pine, longleaf pine, slash pine,
  sweetbay, maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina), and shiny blueberry (V. myrsinites) [112]

LA:

• 
  

  
  Cane―in the Cat Island Swamp in the Mississippi River
  floodplain, cane occurs in the transition zone between swamp and mesic
  forest in a community that is a combination of the maple/yellow-poplar/oak
  complex and the hackberry (Celtis spp.)/elm/ash (Fraxinus
  spp.) community [24]

MS:

• 
  

  
  Cane―the following sites in the Mississippi River
  alluvial plain: thick loess sites dominated by sweetgum, basswood (Tilia
  spp.), water oak, yellow-poplar, cherrybark oak (Q. pagoda), elm, and
  bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis); and thin loess sites dominated
  by American beech, blackgum, black oak (Q. velutina), sourwood (Oxydendrum
  arboreum), and sweetgum [10]

• 
  

  
  cane and dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) are
  primary species of the shrub layer in an old-growth forest in west-central
  Mississippi dominated by sweetgum and box elder [25]

• 
  

  
  pitcher plant (Sarracenia alata) bogs in southern Mississippi [29]

NC:

• 
  

  
  Cane―wet and mesic pine savannas in the Green Swamp; wet
  pine savannas have occasional individuals of pond pine, pond cypress
  (Taxodium distichum var. nutans), and swamp tupelo and mesic savannas have a tree canopy cover
  of longleaf pine that rarely exceeds 40% [60,89,104]

• 
  

  
  pocosin or bayland xeric shrub bog community of
  inkberry-southern bayberry (Morella carolinensis) and wax
  myrtle-swamp titi (Cyrilla racemiflora)

• 
  

  
  toothache grass-panicgrass (Dichanthelium
  spp.) association, a xeric grass-sedge bog community

• 
  

  
  meso-xeric pine association typified by
  scattered longleaf and loblolly pines and an understory dominated by
  inkberry and wax myrtle [105]

• 
  

  
  honeycup (Zenobia pulverulenta) association in shrub bogs [12]

• 
  

  
  in the greater sandhills region of south-central
  North Carolina, cane is commonly found along blackwater streams in Atlantic
  white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) swamps [66,84]

• 
  

  
  mesic mixed hardwood forests on moist upland soils
  dominated by American beech, yellow-poplar, southern sugar maple (A. barbatum), white oak, and sweetgum

• 
  

  
  rocky bar and shore habitats adjacent to rivers and
  streams with a sparse shrub and herb layer; typical shrubs include hazel
  alder (Alnus serrulata), common buttonbush (Cephalanthus
  occidentalis), and yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima); silky
  willow (Salix sericea), black willow (S. nigra) and
  sedges (Carex spp.) dominate the herb layer

• 
  

  
  coastal plain levee forests on natural levee and
  point bar ridge deposits dominated by a mixture of bottomland hardwoods
  including American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), sugarberry (Celtis
  laevigata), river birch, box elder, water hickory (Carya aquatica), and sweetgum

• 
  

  
  coastal plain hardwood forests on abandoned or
  natural levee deposits and point bar ridges dominated by laurel oak (Q. laurifolia),
  overcup oak (Q. lyrata), willow oak, water oak, red maple,
  loblolly pine, Atlantic white-cedar, and sweetgum

• 
  

  
  high pocosins typified by a dense shrub layer of
  fetterbush lyonia (L. lucida), swamp titi, inkberry, and laurel greenbriar (Smilax
  laurifolia)

• 
  

  
  pond pine woodlands, also called conifer-hardwood
  pocosin, where pond pine and loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus) are
  codominants in a open to nearly closed canopy [84]

• 
  

  Switch cane―the following communities in a tidewater swamp ecosystem
  on the Chewan River: the swamp tupelo-baldcypress (T. distichum)
  community, and the water tupelo (N. aquatica)-baldcypress-swamp tupelo community [1]

OK:

• 
  

  
  Cane―sugar maple (Acer saccharum)-white oak-mockernut
  hickory (Carya alba) forest association on floodplains and mesic slopes

• 
  

  
  sugar maple-boxelder forest association in stream
  margins and riparian corridors

• 
  

  
  river birch-American sycamore/hazel alder forest
  association in riparian corridors

• 
  

  
  American sycamore-boxelder forest association on wet
  to moist soils in floodplains

• 
  

  
  loblolly pine-sweetgum forest association in floodplains [52]

SC:

• 
  

  
  Cane―floodplain hardwood forest along the eastern edge of
  the Savannah River; overstory includes southern red oak, swamp chestnut oak,
  overcup oak, white oak, willow oak, laurel oak, sweetgum, red maple, and
  elms; understory includes dwarf palmetto [59]

• 
  

  Switch
  cane―in loblolly pine flatwoods of the lower coastal
  plain, switch cane is abundant along seeps and stream channels [36,37]

VA:

• 
  

  
  Cane―It is 1 of the most commonly occurring
  herbaceous species in the headwater bottoms of the inner coastal plain. The
  tree layer is typically composed of red maple, sweetgum, ash, and elm. Other herbaceous associates include asplenium ladyfern (Athyrium filix-femina var. asplenioides),
  netted chainfern (Woodwardia areolata), and cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) [79]

• 
  

  
  wetter longleaf pine flatwood sites where pond pine
  becomes more dominant [76]

Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains:

• 
  

  
  Cane―in the mid-Atlantic flatwoods, cane may form dense
  thickets on wetter sites in the oak-hickory-pine association [13]

• 
  

  
  cabbage palmetto-slash pine type

• 
  

  
  Atlantic white cedar type

• 
  

  
  pond cypress type [107]

• 
  

  
  longleaf pine savannas [75]

• 
  

  
  pond pine pocosins [89,107]

• 
  

  
  old-growth bottomland hardwood forests dominated by
  sweetgum and water oak [108]

• 
  

  
  the following associations in coastal plain alluvial
  floodplains and "high elevation" floodplains of natural levees, flats and
  higher terraces: water oak-swamp chestnut-spruce pine (Pinus glabra)
  and swamp chestnut oak-southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)-American
  holly (Ilex opaca) [109]

• 
  

  
  longleaf pine-slash pine-bluestem (Schizachyrium
  spp. and Andropogon spp.) type [45]

• 
  

  
  a bottomland oak association with a loblolly
  pine-dominant overstory; overstory associates include Florida maple, red
  maple, water oak, white oak, yellow-poplar, green ash (F. pennsylvanica),
  and American sycamore [90]

• 
  

  
  the evergreen shrub swamp community of
  inkberry-swamp titi-honeycup [71]

• 
  

  
  the evergreen bay forest type of loblolly bay-pine-sweetbay-redbay (Persea borbonia) [65]

• 
  

  Switch
  cane―the pocosin woodland series type
  of pond pine-loblolly bay-redbay [70]

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following Rangeland Cover Types (as classified by the Society for Range Management, SRM):

More info for the terms: cover, hardwood

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [93]:

805 Riparian

809 Mixed hardwood and pine

812 North Florida flatwoods

813 Cutthroat seeps

814 Cabbage palm flatwoods

815 Upland hardwood hammocks

816 Cabbage palm hammocks

817 Oak hammocks

821 Pitcher plant bogs

822 Slough

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

More info for the terms: cover, swamp

SAF COVER TYPES [30]:

23 Eastern hemlock

26 Sugar maple-basswood

27 Sugar maple

53 White oak

57 Yellow-poplar

59 Yellow-poplar-white oak-northern red oak

60 Beech-sugar maple

61 River birch-sycamore

70 Longleaf pine

71 Longleaf pine-scrub oak

72 Southern scrub oak

74 Cabbage palmetto

75 Shortleaf pine

76 Shortleaf pine-oak

80 Loblolly pine-shortleaf pine

81 Loblolly pine

82 Loblolly pine-hardwood

83 Longleaf pine-slash pine

84 Slash pine

85 Slash pine-hardwood

87 Sweetgum-yellow-poplar

88 Willow oak-water oak-diamondleaf (laurel) oak

89 Live oak

91 Swamp chestnut oak-cherrybark oak

92 Sweetgum-willow oak

93 Sugarberry-American elm-green ash

94 Sycamore-sweetgum-American elm

96 Overcup oak-water hickory

97 Atlantic white-cedar

98 Pond pine

100 Pondcypress

101 Baldcypress

102 Baldcypress-tupelo

103 Water tupelo-swamp tupelo

104 Sweetbay-swamp tupelo-redbay

110 Black oak

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

KUCHLER [61] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K079 Palmetto prairie

K089 Black Belt

K090 Live oak-sea oats

K099 Maple-basswood forest

K100 Oak-hickory forest

K101 Elm-ash forest

K102 Beech-maple forest

K103 Mixed mesophytic forest

K104 Appalachian oak forest

K109 Transition between K104 and K106

K111 Oak-hickory-pine

K112 Southern mixed forest

K113 Southern floodplain forest

K114 Pocosin

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

ECOSYSTEMS [35]:

FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine

FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine

FRES14 Oak-pine

FRES15 Oak-hickory

FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress

FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood

FRES41 Wet grasslands

Giant Cane is native to southern Illinois, where it is occasional. Illinois lies along the northern range limit of this species. Populations of this grass within the state have declined as a result of development, and large colonies (or canebrakes) have become uncommon. Habitats include bottomland woodlands, flood-prone flatwoods, swamps and edges of swamps, low areas along rivers, bottoms and lower slopes of rocky canyons, and gravelly seeps. While fire will top-kill individual plants of Giant Cane, it is able to regenerate new plants from its extensive rhizomes. Occasional wildfires are beneficial in maintaining populations of this grass if they reduce competition from trees and large shrubs.

Giant cane produces green leaves and stems all year. It grows vigorously from rhizomes and from auxiliary buds at basal nodes. It also grows in small colonies, thickets, and large canebrakes as well as makes vigorous growth under a dense stand of trees. It is adapted to moist soils along riverbanks and in bottomlands and similar sites. It does best on soils of high fertility.

Some native insects are obligate feeders on Giant Cane and perhaps other Arundinaria spp. These insects feeders include several leafhoppers (Arundanus arundineus, Arundanus flavotinctus, Arundanus marginellus, Arundanus nacreosa, Chlorotettix suturalis) and the caterpillars of such skippers and butterflies as Amblyscirtes aesculapius (Cobweb Roadside Skipper), Amblyscirtes carolina (Carolina Roadside Skipper), Amblyscirtes reversa (Reversed Roadside Skipper), Poanes yehl (Yehl Skipper), Enodia creola (Creole Pearly Eye), and Enodia portlandia (Southern Pearly Eye). A snout moth, Crocidophora pustuliferalis, also feeds on Giant Cane by forming webs around its leaves. Giant Cane also provides cover and it is a source of food for several vertebrate animals. The young culms and leaves are readily consumed by cattle, horses, sheep, deer, beavers, and even black bears because they are high in protein, calcium, phosphorus, and other nutrients. The large seeds of Giant Cane were occasionally eaten by the extinct Passenger Pigeon and Carolina Parakeet. Colonies of Giant Cane (or canebrakes) provide the preferred habitat of the uncommon Canebrake Rattlesnake (a subspecies of the Timber Rattlesnake) and this habitat also attracts Copperhead and Cottonmouth snakes. Canebrakes also provide the preferred nesting habitat of the uncommon Swainson's Warbler and the now extinct Bachman's Warbler. It is thought that the decline of large canebrakes played a role in the extinction of the latter warbler. The Meadow Vole, Golden Mouse, and other small rodents also inhabit this kind of habitat.

More info for the terms: density, fresh, litter, prescribed fire

Prescribed fire can be used to renovate decadent cane stands. Hughes [54] recommends prescribed fire at 10-year-intervals to increase cane density. Leithead and others [62] caution that burns should not be conducted any more often than every 3 to 4 years. Low-severity fires limited to surface litter are adequate to stimulate new sprout growth, but aerial vegetation that was killed, but not consumed, by fire presents an increased fire hazard, and reburning may be warranted for fire hazard reduction. In 1 study in a North Carolina canebrake, a prescribed fire reduced fire hazard for the first 2 to 3 years, and fuels reached a peak of 5 to 7 tons/acre after 3 or 4 years of fire protection. Therefore, if a reduction of fire hazard is desired, a short burning cycle is preferable [54].

Prescribed fire may not help to promote the rapid spread of cane into adjacent areas. If soils are compacted, lateral penetration of roots and rhizomes is slow [54].

Grazing reduces the fire hazard in cane stands. In the pocosins of North Carolina, grazing reduced the total combustible material per acre by 43%. Three different fires were noticeably slowed down and/or stopped once they entered the grazed area. Although burning may be beneficial in some respects, burned cane range is particularly susceptible to grazing damage, and over-use of fresh burns must be avoided to maintain grazing values [91].

Hilmon and Hughes [50] cautioned that control of wild cane fires may be "difficult or impossible" because of their speed and intensity [50].

More info for the terms: cover, density, prescribed burn, shrubs, succession, tree, wildfire

Cane stands tend to remain even-aged for 2 to 3 years following fire with many
sprouts emerging within the 1st year, and few new shoots in the 2nd and 3rd
years. Thereafter, new sprouts again start to appear, and the stands become uneven-aged [54].

Cane may not respond to burning if overall stand vigor is extremely poor. If
cane stands of low vigor are burned, other plant species may regenerate more
quickly, and the cane may never recover [54].
A spring prescribed burn promoted cane in a pond pine/cane community in the
North Carolina coastal plain. On sites without tree cover, cane stem numbers
increased 88% in the first year following the burn. On sites with pond pine
tree cover, cane stem numbers increased 40% in the first year [54].
Fire favored switch cane in longleaf and loblolly pine communities in the South
Carolina coastal plain. Prescribed burns were carried out in the winter over a
12-year period at intervals of 1, 2, 3, and 4 years. Prior to burning, the
understory was predominantly shrubs, with a minor to moderate component of
switch cane. Burning resulted in a general conversion of the understory from
shrubs to grasses, primarily switch cane [82].
In the absence of fire, cane stands lose vigor, culms die, and succession by
other plant species exceeds the rate of cane regeneration. In 1 study in a
pond pine/cane forest in the coastal plain of North Carolina, cane stem density
started to decline 10 years after a spring wildfire. From 10 to 13 years
after fire, cane stem numbers declined 50%, and by year 14, there was a 65%
reduction in density [54].
Repeated annual or semi-annual fires are detrimental to cane stands because the
continuous removal of the stems and leaves depletes food reserves in the rhizomes,
and new sprouts cannot be produced [7,56,106].

More info for the term: density

Fire stimulates cane sprouting [21]. Cane will start to sprout soon following a spring burn, and stem density may return to prefire levels by mid-summer of the same season [91]. Following a winter fire in North Carolina, cane stems grew as much as 1.5 inches in 24 hours in the following spring [55].>

Cane may flower in response to burning [49,63,88]. Seedlings occasionally establish after a fire, but the seedlings rarely develop into full-sized plants [54].

The coarse stems and leaves of cane are readily killed by fire, but the rhizomes usually survive [55].

More info for the terms: rhizome, root crown

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [96]:
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Surface rhizome/chamaephytic root crown in organic mantle or on soil surface

More info for the terms: bog, fire frequency, fire intensity, fire regime, fire severity, frequency, fuel, hardwood, low-severity fire, marsh, mesic, natural, organic soils, peat, severity, shrub, shrubs, top-kill

Fire adaptations: Cane is adapted to fire by sprouting quickly and prolifically from rhizomes [18,53,74].

FIRE REGIMES: Canebrakes are fire-dependent ecosystems [34,40]. Prior to European settlement, fire was the primary factor that maintained monotypic canebrakes on hundreds of thousands of acres across the mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S. It is estimated that the historical fire frequency of canebrakes in the southeastern U.S. ranged from 2 to 8 years [34]. The dense growth creates heavy fuel loads and makes canebrakes highly flammable [55,91]. Canebrakes on peatlands historically experienced landscape-scale fires that burned for weeks or months, creeping through swamps, smoldering in peat, and flaring up when flammable vegetation was reached or when conditions of humidity and wind reached critical thresholds [32]. In canebrakes of bottomland hardwood ecosystems, fire intensity in the cane stands was much higher than in the adjacent hardwood forest, although the fire severity was low except during drought. Large fires only occurred after an extended drought, usually a dry fall followed by a dry spring [103].

FIRE REGIMES in the various woodland and shrubland communities where cane may occur can be variable. The southern pine forests and pine savannas typically have fire return intervals of less than 10 years [68,103]. In the southeastern U.S., adiabatic thunderstorms can occur almost daily during the summer, and this region has 1 of the highest annual lightning frequencies in the world [68,75]. Although the number of lightning fires is highest from June to August, the majority of acreage burns in May and June in Florida and south Georgia, when the time between thunderstorms is longer. In the late summer, thunderstorms and associated rainfall are more frequent and humidities are higher. Historically, fires associated with dry frontal systems probably were quite large and may have burned for weeks or months, particularly in organic/peaty soil. Such fires likely spread into adjacent upland communities. The historic high fire frequency resulted in a frequent low-severity fire regime. Exceptions occurred when catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, tornados, and severe drought, were precursors to fires of much higher intensity and severity [75,103].

Pond pine pocosins burn on a 20- to 50-year cycle, but on highly productive sites, fire-return intervals of 3 to 10 years can be common. The shorter interval fires may produce a pine savanna with a grass understory. Mesic sites have a shrub layer comprised of many ericaceous evergreen shrubs that tend to burn intensely, resulting in the top-kill or death of all vegetation except pond pine. Pond pine has the ability to sprout from its base as well as along its stem and branches; thus, its aboveground stem survives higher severity fires than stems of most other pine species. This trait allows the species to dominate wet areas such as pocosins. Summer fires during severe droughts can eliminate pond pine and cane, because the underlying organic soil burns, destroying root systems [103].

Cane grows in hardwood communities with a wide range of fire frequencies, from the short return interval of 3 to 8 years for chestnut oak, to the moderate-return intervals of 35 years for yellow-poplar and oak-hickory communities, and the 1000+ years possible for some maple, beech, and birch communities. On bottomland hardwood sites, low-severity fires are the norm because fuel loads are generally light due to rapid decomposition on these moist, humid sites. Insect- and disease-related mortality and windthrow can result in heavy loadings of large woody fuels which, in times of drought, will support stand-replacement fires [103].

Evergreen bay forests of loblolly bay, sweetbay, and redbay are characterized by a stand replacement fire regime. This type now burns on about a 20- to 100-year cycle, but the historic fire frequency is not well documented [65]. Shrub bogs are bay forests that burn every 2 to 5 decades. More frequent burning, at least once a decade, removes the shrub layer, resulting in an herb bog. If the underlying organic soils are completely consumed, both pocosins and bays will revert to marsh [103].

Before European settlers harvested Atlantic white-cedar, it was generally perpetuated by major disturbances, probably stand-replacing crown fires that occurred at 25 to 300 year intervals [103].

Embedded within pine and floodplain hardwood ecosystems are numerous other ecosystems such as depressional wetlands, including bays, lime sinks, cypress ponds and savannas, gum ponds, bay swamps, pitcher plant bogs, shrub bogs, and spring seeps. Fires in these wetland communities are typically stand-replacing. Fire return intervals can be variable: 3 to 9 years in herb bogs and shrub bogs; 20 to 30 years in gum ponds and bog swamps; 20 to 50 years in titi shrub bogs, and 20 to 150 years in many cypress ponds and bay swamps [103].

Wet grassland ecosystems are characterized by a presettlement fire frequency of 1 to 3 years. These ecosystems typically contain large quantities of herbaceous vegetation and are considered highly flammable. The coastal grassland landscapes are often quite extensive, a factor that aids in the propagation of an individual fire. Depending on fuel and wind speeds, fire may either bridge small to moderate-sized natural breaks, such as stream channels, or be stopped by them [103]. Lightning-strike fires are common in coastal wetlands, and often fire from adjacent uplands can spread into the wetlands [32].

The following table provides fire return intervals for plant communities and ecosystems where cane is important. For further information, see the FEIS review of the dominant species listed below.

Community or Ecosystem	Dominant Species	Fire Return Interval Range (years)
maple-beech	Acer-Fagus spp.	684-1,385 [15,103]
maple-beech-birch	Acer-Fagus-Betula spp.	>1,000
sugar maple	Acer saccharum	>1,000
sugar maple-basswood	Acer saccharum-Tilia americana	>1,000
sugarberry-America elm-green ash	Celtis laevigata-Ulmus americana-Fraxinus pennsylvanica	<35 to 200
Atlantic white-cedar	Chamaecyparis thyoides	35 to >200
beech-sugar maple	Fagus spp.-Acer saccharum	>1,000 [103]
green ash	Fraxinus pennsylvanica	<35 to >300 [28,103]
yellow-poplar	Liriodendron tulipifera	<35
shortleaf pine	Pinus echinata	2-15
shortleaf pine-oak	Pinus echinata-Quercus spp.	<10
slash pine	Pinus elliottii	3-8
slash pine-hardwood	Pinus elliottii-variable	<35 [103]
longleaf-slash pine	Pinus palustris-P. elliottii	1-4 [68,103]
longleaf pine-scrub oak	Pinus palustris-Quercus spp.	6-10
pocosin	Pinus serotina	3-8
pond pine	Pinus serotina	3-8
loblolly pine	Pinus taeda	3-8
loblolly-shortleaf pine	Pinus taeda-P. echinata	10 to <35
sycamore-sweetgum-American elm	Platanus occidentalis-Liquidambar styraciflua-Ulmus americana	<35 to 200
oak-hickory	Quercus-Carya spp.	<35 [103]
oak-gum-cypress	Quercus-Nyssa-spp.-Taxodium distichum	35 to >200 [68]
southeastern oak-pine	Quercus-Pinus spp.	<10
white oak-black oak-northern red oak	Quercus alba-Q. velutina-Q. rubra	<35
chestnut oak	Quercus prinus	3-8
black oak	Quercus velutina	<35
live oak	Quercus virginiana	10 to <100 [103]
cabbage palmetto-slash pine	Sabal palmetto-Pinus elliottii	<10 [68,103]
baldcypress	Taxodium distichum var. distichum	100 to >300
pondcypress	Taxodium distichum var. nutans	<35 [68]

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More info for the terms: bog, cover, hardwood, mesic, sere, shrub, shrubs, succession, swamp, tree, xeric

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Cane inhabits low-lying, moist to wet sites, including low woodlands of various mixtures, woodlands on mesic and sub-mesic slopes and uplands, river and stream banks, floodplains, levees, shrub-tree bogs and bays, swamplands, sloughs, bayous and pocosins, and mesic to wet savannahs [18,41,42,84,104,109]. Cane will grow on xeric and sub-xeric sites, but it thrives best on wetter sites that are typically seasonally flooded or saturated [75]. The water level often remains at or near the soil surface for extended periods during the wet season but falls well below the soil surface later in the growing season [84,91,102].

Although cane thrives best on well-drained loams or silt loams [43,90], it grows in a variety of soil types ranging from clay to sand and has a wide tolerance of soil nutrient conditions [14]. Soils are often poorly drained, highly acidic, and organic, peaty, or mucky [84,92,105]. On some sites, sandy surface soils overlie loamy or clayey subsoils. The heavier subsoil tends to retain moisture and nutrients during dry periods [6,40]. Cane has been observed growing on sandy soils with a mildly alkaline pH of 7.8 [31].

Cane is found at elevations ranging from sea level in southern floodplains to 2,000 feet (610 m) in the Appalachian Mountains. It has a broad climate tolerance and can withstand temperatures ranging from -9.4 to 106 °F (-23 to 41 °C) [18].

The canebrake community is fire dependent [34,40]. Historically, fire probably maintained canebrakes in a secondary successional sere [7]. Cane sprouts so prolifically following fire that it quickly achieves dominance after a burn, and the dense thickets suppress the growth of other vegetation for many years [32]. In the Southeast, canebrakes can form an ecotone transitional between savannas and wetlands such as pocosin, bay-gall, bay forest, or swamp forest. With different fire frequencies, canebrakes may alternate with these types over time. In the pine pocosins and shrub bogs of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, fire maintains cane dominance over evergreen shrubs such as inkberry, swamp titi, sweetbay, and redbay. Frequent fire can eliminate cane and favor a transition to a grass-sedge bog community. In the absence of fire, cane is gradually replaced by shrubs and trees [21,33,60,74,89,105,106]. Canebrakes succeed to multistoried wooded communities such as bottomland hardwood, pocosin, pond pine forest, red maple forest, and bay forest [34].

Cane is fairly shade tolerant. It thrives best in the open or under light tree cover, but can persist under dense canopies of up to 80% cover [27,54,62]. The ability of cane to survive under tree cover allows it to expand readily if the trees are removed [32]. For example, a cane stand expanded "readily" following logging of the tree overstory in blackgum and Atlantic white-cedar swamps in the Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina [71].

Cane does not spread rapidly into either early or late successional forest types. It is hypothesized that cane was formerly concentrated in ecotones, between frequently disturbed areas and less disturbed forests of sugar maples, hickories, ashes, and oaks. The ecotonal vegetation may have been relatively stable, being maintained by small-scale oscillations of forest boundaries rather than long-term directional succession [9].

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More info for the terms: geophyte, phanerophyte

RAUNKIAER [78] LIFE FORM:
Phanerophyte
Geophyte

More info for the term: graminoid

Graminoid

Although fire will kill all aboveground plant parts, it maintains cane stands by stimulating the production of new sprouts and eliminating other vegetation that would compete with the sprouts for water and nutrients [55].

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Foliage production occurs from April to early July, and green foliage is held well into winter and even until the following spring on protected sites [91]. Flowering in cane is rare, but it may occur from March to May in Florida [16,48] and from April to July in the northern extent of its range [77,110]. The flowering period may continue for a year [51]. Seeds mature about 1 month following flowering, and seed germination may occur within a few days of the seed reaching the ground [53,55]. Aerial stems, and the rhizomes attached to them, die after flowering [42,53,64,77]. New stems arise from rhizomes from spring to mid-summer, and have been observed to elongate as much as 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in 24 hours [53]. Stands usually decline in 3 to 4 years because of gradual mortality and replacement [55].

Information on state-level protected status of plants in the United States is available at Plants Database.

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.

More info for the terms: prescribed fire, restoration

More than 98% of all large canebrakes in the U.S. have been lost since the
time of European settlement, and canebrakes are considered "critically
endangered" ecosystems as defined by the National Biological Service. Large
canebrakes historically performed a valuable role in protecting water quality by
their ability to mediate sedimentation and nutrient pollution. They also
provided a level of flood control in low-lying areas [69]. The loss of
canebrakes has left many areas more vulnerable to damage from sedimentation,
nutrient pollution, and flood damage, and the loss of cane habitat has been
strongly tied to declines in several associated wildlife species [69,88]. In
recent years there has been significant interest in the restoration of
canebrakes through the use of prescribed fire and artificial propagation, and
continued efforts are needed to assure the survival of this ecosystem [5].

Do not plant exotic bamboos. While manual control of bamboo through cutting and digging out of rhizomes is possible, it is extremely labor intensive and will need to be continued over a long time to ensure eradication. Control with herbicides is more practical and can be very effective.

Please contact your local NRCS Field Office.

Overgrazing and uncontrolled burning easily kills this grass. For maximum production, no more than 50 percent of current year's growth by weight should be grazed off at any season. Controlled burning should be done under ideal humidity, soil moisture, and wind conditions no more than every 3 to 4 years. Deferred grazing for at least 90 days during summer every 2 to 3 years improves plant vigor. Overgrazed stands require complete protection from grazing and fire during the growing season to allow plants to regain vigor.

More info for the terms: culm, density, hardwood, restoration, rhizome

High culm density, rapid lateral spread, and rapid height growth make cane a good choice for riparian buffer zones. Cane's compact network of rhizomes provides streambank stabilization, sediment retention, and bioaccumulation of nutrients and toxins [23]. Without the mediation effects of cane, there is an increased potential for damage to the riparian system. Research has shown that cane can significantly reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in surface runoff and nitrogen and phosphorus in groundwater. In 1 study around row-crop fields in southern Illinois, cane was effective in reducing ground water nitrate levels by 90%, and dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations by 28% [5,87].

Cirtain and others [14] conducted greenhouse studies on the germination and growth of cane seedlings. Seedlings were able to survive both flooding and drought, but grew better under well-drained conditions. Although cane can be propagated by seed, seed is sporadically produced and has low viability. Therefore, artificial propagation is best achieved by vegetative means including rhizome cuttings and clump division [88]. Transplanting stem clumps is often more successful than using individual stems [31]. The survival of transplanted cane varies widely, and slow growth is a common problem. Care should be taken to keep transplant stock from drying out. Amendments of hardwood mulch and composted manure may help increase the success of transplantings [23]. Because propagation of cane by digging and transplanting culms is labor intensive, cumbersome, and costly, research is being carried out to develop procedures for producing machine-plantable rhizome stock for use in canebrake restoration [115].

More info for the terms: bog, cover, density, swamp

Cane provides high quality forage for cattle, horses, swine, and domestic sheep [62]. Because it is evergreen, cane is good for grazing year-round [4]. Cane was once widely utilized as a forage plant for cattle and domestic sheep across much of the southeastern U.S. In Mississippi cane was once commonly called "mutton grass" because of its value as domestic sheep forage [62]. Because of the dramatic reduction in cane habitat, it is generally no longer considered a valuable range forage plant [46].

Cane is easily damaged by grazing and the rooting of swine, and stands may take years to recover from damage [20,51,91]. Overgrazing is considered 1 of the major factors involved in the decrease of cane habitat in the U.S. following European settlement [7]. Plants are most susceptible to grazing damage in the spring and summer [4]. Continuous summer grazing can cause a decline in cane stem density and a reduction in stem height [54]. According to a 1971 handbook, no more than 50% of the current year's growth should be grazed off in any season. It is also recommended that summer grazing be deferred for at least 90 days every 2 to 3 years. Controlled burns every 3 to 4 years can be used to maintain cane fields and improve forage value. Burned fields must be protected from grazing for the first growing season to allow the cane to recover [62].

Palatability/nutritional value: Where it occurs, cane is 1 of the most palatable and preferred forages by cattle, and it can comprise the bulk of the animal's diet when abundant [91]. The crude protein, calcium, and phosphorus content of cane average higher than other native southern grasses [46]. Digestible nutrients in cane foliage are highest in May and June and decline rapidly during the remainder of the summer and fall [55].

Cover value: Cane provides good cover for nesting birds, small mammals, and reptiles [5,74]. Canebrakes are critical nesting habitat for the Swainson's warbler [7,44,99]. In the South Carolina coastal plain, hooded warblers have a high nesting success rate in dense patches of cane, possibly because the nests are well protected from snake predation [67]. Bachman's warbler historically required extensive canebrakes for nesting, and the possible extinction of this bird is probably related to the disappearance of large canebrakes [72,81]. The white-eyed vireo and Kentucky warbler are also strongly associated with cane [83]. Cane growing in creek valleys provides desirable cover for northern bobwhite [19].

Canebrakes formerly supported high population densities of white-tailed deer, bison, and wild turkeys in the southeastern U.S., and provided good denning cover and escape corridors for black bear and mountain lion [7]. Swamp rabbits utilize canebrakes for cover and browse the foliage and shoots. The rabbits appear to be restricted to canebrakes in southern Indiana and southeastern Missouri [74,98]. The disappearance of large canebrakes has been cited as a causal factor in population declines of bison, black bear, and swamp rabbit in the Southeast [7,74]. White-tailed deer forage switch cane stems only in the spring of the first year following a burn. Thereafter, the stems become too coarse and are no longer palatable [111]. Switch cane is an important summer food of black bears in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina [22,49]. Meadow voles, southern bog lemmings, and several species of shrew are frequently associated with cane in the Great Dismal Swamp [80]. Golden mice incorporate cane foliage into aboveground nests that are frequently supported by cane stems. American beaver consume living stems and foliage, particularly during late winter when other herbaceous vegetation is unavailable [74].

The southern subspecies of the timber rattlesnake is commonly referred to as the "canebrake rattlesnake" because of its affinity for cane habitats. Cottonmouths, copperheads, and pygmy rattlesnakes are also commonly found in canebrakes, presumably because of the abundance of birds and small rodents that are their prey. In a radio-telemetry study in Virginia, it was found that copperheads spent more time in small canebrakes than the adjacent lowland swamps [74].

At least 6 species of butterfly are considered obligate cane specialists: creole pearly eye, southern pearly eye, southern swamp skipper, cobweb little skipper, cane little skipper, and the yellow little skipper [7].

The preference is partial to full sun, wet to moist conditions, and fertile soil consisting of loam or silty loam. However, this woody grass can adapt to areas that are more shady and dry, where its growth will be stunted. Periods of standing water are readily tolerated. The size of individual plants can vary considerably depending on their age and environmental conditions. Northern ecotypes of this grass can tolerate temperatures to -10º F. Under favorable conditions, it can spread aggressively via its rhizomes. Seed viability is low, and seedlings develop slowly (typically 1' tall after 3 years).

Native Americans utilized cane for a variety of purposes. The stems were used to make spears, arrows, blowguns, pipes, flutes, and fish traps. The leaves were woven into baskets and mats [94]. It is estimated that Native Americans burned cane every 7 to 10 years to maintain and expand canebrakes [7,26]. Cane has also been used as a potherb and for fishing poles [51].

Giant cane provides high quality forage for cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep. It is valued for summer grazing in northern part of range and for winter grazing in states along the gulf coast. Stems of this grass are also used for fishing poles, pipe stems, baskets, and mats.

Bamboos can form very dense single-species thickets that displace native plant species and create dense shade that makes it difficult for seedlings of native species to survive. Once established, they can be very difficult to eradicate.