Giant Reed
Arundo donax
Photographed along Camp Creek, Maricopa Co., Arizona, August 2008.
PERENNIAL: An invasive, weedy grass reaching heights of
five meters or more. Many stems can eventually grow together from underground rhizomes
producing an impenetrable thicket. It resembles and is sometimes referred to as bamboo.
LEAVES: Broad leaf-blades up to a meter long.
RANGE: Increasingly frequent in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico
along well-watered washes and riparian zones.
FRUIT: Small grains a few mm long.
FLOWERS: Compact panicle with thousands of spikelets resembling a plume.
UNARMED.