Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Monocotyledon Literature for Arundo donax
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Poaceae -- The Grass Family Bibliography
      Arundo donax

Common name(s): giant reed, Spanish reed
General Information
DistributionNative to the Mediterranean region, now widely naturalized in warm temperate to tropical areas.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
















Habit
 Large perennials; culms erect or arching, up to 8 m tall, unbranched or branched above, arising from thick, scaly rhizomes, nodes glabrous, usually concealed, internodes hollow, up to 4 cm in diameter.
Leaves
 Leaves strongly distichous, distributed rather uniformly along culm except on old stems; sheaths longer than internodes and strongly overlapping, glaucous, glabrous to sometimes sparsely long-villous at throat; ligule a thin, whitish or brownish, minutely ciliate membrane, 1-1.5 mm long; blades thick and coriaceous, 45-60 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, glabrous, glaucous, striate, margins scabrous, leaf bases broader than sheaths, with prominent, triangular, brownish flanges, ciliate along margins.
Flowers
 Inflorescences paniculate, ovoid, 40-70 cm long, plumose, dense, the branches stiffly ascending; spikelets densely clustered along secondary or tertiary branches, 13-17 mm long, 4-5-flowered, rachilla glabrous; glumes hyaline, brownish or purplish, 11-13 mm long, narrow, acuminate, scabrous on the indistinct keel; lemmas membranous, lanceolate-ovate, 8-15 mm long, tapering to a short straight awn arising between 2 delicate lateral teeth, 3-7-nerved, usually 3 major ones anastomosing with midnerve, lower portions on dorsal surface of lemma heavily bearded with long silky whitish hairs, the hairs 8-10 mm long; palea whitish, membranous, 5-10 mm long, ca. 1/2 as long as lemma, scabrid on keels and pubescent near base between them, hyaline, truncate.
Fruit
 Caryopsis elongate, 1-1.5 mm long.
Chromosomes
 2n = 60, 64-72, 100, ca. 108, 110
Contributor
 Warren Wagner