Wildflower (forb) · Sparganiaceae
American bur-reed
Sparganium americanum
American bur-reed is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 676 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American bur-reed at a glance
- Native in
- 676 counties, across 32 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American bur-reed is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 676 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 676 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 34 counties
- Arkansas 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- Florida 16 counties
- Georgia 16 counties
- Illinois 8 counties
- Indiana 11 counties
- Kansas 3 counties
- Kentucky 23 counties
- Louisiana 24 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 7 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 32 counties
- Minnesota 8 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- Missouri 31 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 43 counties
- North Carolina 57 counties
- Ohio 21 counties
- Pennsylvania 59 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 21 counties
- Tennessee 32 counties
- Texas 14 counties
- Vermont 11 counties
- Virginia 78 counties
- West Virginia 24 counties
- Wisconsin 22 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
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Colonizing
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.9 to 7.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 95
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Indeterminate
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Green
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Sparganiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SPAM
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
- Sparganium americanum (PLANTS symbol SPAM).
- 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