American Common Reed (Phragmites americanus (Saltonst., P.M.Peterson & Soreng) A.Haines)

Also known as Phragmites australis subsp. americanus Saltonst., P.M.Peterson & Soreng.

Most authorities, for reasons unclear to us, lump this and the introduced Eurasian common reed (Phragmites australis) together as one species under that name, and separate the two populations as subspecies, calling this native one ssp. americanus and the introduced Eurasian one ssp. australis. However, these two populations, in spite of having overlapping bloom times and occurring together on some of the same sites, only rarely hybridize in nature, less frequently than numerous taxa which are treated as separate species. On this basis, and in agreement with Weakley's FSUS, we treat these as separate species.