Index / Search / Phragmites australis
§1 Plant
Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.
vernacular common reed — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid, Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Phragmites
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
- PR Puerto Rico Native
§2b
County-level range
· 286 counties across 19 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- High
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 110 min.
- Precipitation
- 12–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.5–8.7
- Root depth
- 20 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 13 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- White
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- Low
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- 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 286 counties across 19 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 7 B ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 9 B ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 3 B ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 B ▾
Florida view state ↗ 33 B ▾
- Bay 12005
- Brevard 12009
- Broward 12011
- Charlotte 12015
- Citrus 12017
- Collier 12021
- DeSoto 12027
- Dixie 12029
- Escambia 12033
- Franklin 12037
- Glades 12043
- Hendry 12051
- Hillsborough 12057
- Indian River 12061
- Lake 12069
- Lee 12071
- Liberty 12077
- Manatee 12081
- Marion 12083
- Martin 12085
- Miami-Dade 12086
- Okaloosa 12091
- Okeechobee 12093
- Orange 12095
- Palm Beach 12099
- Pinellas 12103
- Polk 12105
- Santa Rosa 12113
- Sarasota 12115
- Seminole 12117
- St. Lucie 12111
- Volusia 12127
- Walton 12131
Georgia view state ↗ 3 B ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 15 B ▾
Maine view state ↗ 14 B ▾
Maryland view state ↗ 11 B ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 B ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 4 B ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 21 B ▾
New York view state ↗ 53 B ▾
- Albany 36001
- Bronx 36005
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Cayuga 36011
- Chautauqua 36013
- Chemung 36015
- Chenango 36017
- Clinton 36019
- Columbia 36021
- Cortland 36023
- Delaware 36025
- Dutchess 36027
- Erie 36029
- Essex 36031
- Franklin 36033
- Genesee 36037
- Greene 36039
- Jefferson 36045
- Kings 36047
- Lewis 36049
- Madison 36053
- Monroe 36055
- Montgomery 36057
- Nassau 36059
- New York 36061
- Niagara 36063
- Onondaga 36067
- Ontario 36069
- Orange 36071
- Orleans 36073
- Oswego 36075
- Otsego 36077
- Putnam 36079
- Queens 36081
- Rensselaer 36083
- Richmond 36085
- Rockland 36087
- Saratoga 36091
- Schenectady 36093
- Schoharie 36095
- Schuyler 36097
- Seneca 36099
- St. Lawrence 36089
- Steuben 36101
- Suffolk 36103
- Sullivan 36105
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
- Yates 36123
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 22 B ▾
- Allegheny 42003
- Beaver 42007
- Bedford 42009
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Bucks 42017
- Chester 42029
- Crawford 42039
- Dauphin 42043
- Delaware 42045
- Erie 42049
- Lancaster 42071
- Lehigh 42077
- Mercer 42085
- Monroe 42089
- Montgomery 42091
- Northampton 42095
- Philadelphia 42101
- Pike 42103
- Schuylkill 42107
- Warren 42123
- Westmoreland 42129
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 B ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 9 B ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 50 B ▾
- Accomack 51001
- Albemarle 51003
- Alleghany 51005
- Amherst 51009
- Arlington 51013
- Bedford 51019
- Brunswick 51025
- Campbell 51031
- Caroline 51033
- Charles City 51036
- Charlotte 51037
- Chesapeake (city) 51550
- Chesterfield 51041
- Culpeper 51047
- Dinwiddie 51053
- Essex 51057
- Fairfax 51059
- Fauquier 51061
- Fluvanna 51065
- Gloucester 51073
- Hampton (city) 51650
- Hanover 51085
- Isle of Wight 51093
- James City 51095
- King and Queen 51097
- King George 51099
- King William 51101
- Lancaster 51103
- Lunenburg 51111
- Mathews 51115
- Middlesex 51119
- New Kent 51127
- Newport News (city) 51700
- Norfolk (city) 51710
- Northampton 51131
- Northumberland 51133
- Orange 51137
- Portsmouth (city) 51740
- Prince Edward 51147
- Prince William 51153
- Richmond 51159
- Rockingham 51165
- Southampton 51175
- Stafford 51179
- Suffolk (city) 51800
- Surry 51181
- Sussex 51183
- Virginia Beach (city) 51810
- Westmoreland 51193
- York 51199
West Virginia view state ↗ 7 B ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PHAU7 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5290149 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z