Common Reed
Phragmites australis
In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in brackish and freshwater marshes, dredge-spoil deposit islands, ditches. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Height
- About 13 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to standing water
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- August to October
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 18 Louisiana parishes.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA
Genus host records with ranges including LA · Phragmites
- Leucania linitaReed Wainscot, Linen Wainscot
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Poanes viatorBroad-Winged Skipper
- Cosmopterix nitens
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Flower color
- Gray/silver or purple
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Spreads by rhizomes
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Gray/silver or purple” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Spreads by rhizomes” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Height · “About 13 feet” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Leaf retention · “Deciduous” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Frequent standing water; Moist; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Louisiana rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| LA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- USDA PLANTS
- Louisiana occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications