Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Reed canarygrass
Phalaris arundinacea
Reed canarygrass is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,134 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Reed canarygrass at a glance
- Native in
- 1,134 counties, across 39 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Reed canarygrass is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,134 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,134 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 1 county
- Arkansas 2 counties
- California 21 counties
- Colorado 22 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 74 counties
- Indiana 40 counties
- Iowa 30 counties
- Kansas 32 counties
- Kentucky 41 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 44 counties
- Minnesota 75 counties
- Missouri 55 counties
- Montana 31 counties
- Nebraska 42 counties
- Nevada 7 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New Mexico 7 counties
- New York 56 counties
- North Carolina 10 counties
- North Dakota 36 counties
- Ohio 74 counties
- Oregon 32 counties
- Pennsylvania 62 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 32 counties
- Tennessee 16 counties
- Utah 20 counties
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 49 counties
- Washington 36 counties
- West Virginia 26 counties
- Wisconsin 68 counties
- Wyoming 17 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.5 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PHAR3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Phalaris arundinacea (PLANTS symbol PHAR3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources