Arundinaria gigantea (Walter)Walter ex Muhl.

SWITCHCANE

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Arundinaria tecta is here provisionally included within A. gigantea (Radford et al. 1968; Godfrey 1988). Arundinaria tecta is characterized by a shorter height (usually < 2.5 m), air canals in the rhizome, 2-4 compressed basal internodes on primary branches, and terete internodes, while A. gigantea s.s. may be taller (usually > 2m, to 10 m) with rhizomes without air canals, 0-1 compressed internodes on primary branches, and internodes sulcate proximally (Triplett et al. 2006). The AFLP study by Triplett et al. (2010) showed that A. tecta from Atlantic coastal populations in GA, NC, SC, and VA is distinct from Appalachian and Gulf coastal populations of A. gigantea. In that study only a few populations of A. gigantea from the Florida panhandle were included, while no samples from peninsular Florida were included. Hall (2018) indicated A. gigantea was restricted to the panhandle in Florida, while A. tecta occurred in the central peninsula.

Native FACW (NWPL) FACW (DEP)