Common name: Spanish Reed, Giant Reed
Arundo donax L. APNI* 
Description: Perennial to 6 m high with creeping horizontal rhizomes; culms to 2 cm diam., sparingly branched.
Leaves numerous, conspicuously distichous; sheath ribbed; blade to 7 cm wide.
Panicle dense, silky, 30–60 cm long, usually whitish. Spikelets pedicellate, 8–15 mm long, branch and branchlet axes minutely scabrous, rachilla joints ± glabrous. Glumes subequal, glabrous. Lemma 3–9-nerved, hairy on the back, tapering at the summit, the nerves ending in 2 slender teeth with a short straight awn arising between them, usually only the lowest containing a bisexual flower. Palea 2-nerved.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Usually grows along river banks or cultivated in parks and gardens. Native of S Eur. & Asia.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *NT, *CT, *NWS, NWP, *SFWP
Other Australian states: *Qld *Vic. *W.A. *S.A.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings; updated S.F. McCune Jan 2023.
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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