{{Short description|Species of bamboo from North America known as giant river cane}} {{Speciesbox |image=Cane P6200080 Ar.jpg |image_caption=Grouping of ''Arundinaria gigantea'' at Cane Ridge Meeting House in Kentucky, US |genus=Arundinaria |species=gigantea |status = G5 |status_system = TNC |status_ref = <ref>{{Citation|publisher=NatureServe|year=1984|title=''Arundinaria gigantea'', Giant cane. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia.|url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.143792/Arundinaria_gigantea|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> |authority=(Walter) Muhl. }}
'''''Arundinaria gigantea''''' is a species of bamboo known as '''giant cane''' (not to be confused with ''Arundo donax''), '''river cane''', and '''giant river cane'''. It is endemic to the south-central and southeastern United States as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as New York. Giant river cane was economically and culturally important to indigenous people, with uses including as a vegetable and materials for construction and craft production. ''Arundinaria gigantea'' and other species of ''Arundinaria'' once grew in large colonies called canebrakes covering thousands of acres in the southeastern United States, but today these canebrakes are considered endangered ecosystems.<ref name=feis/><ref name=sida>{{citation|last=Triplett |first=J.K.; Weakley, A.S.; Clark, L.G. |title=Hill cane (Arundinaria appalachiana), a new species of bamboo (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) from the southern Appalachian Mountains |journal=Sida |volume=22 |pages=79–95 |year=2006 |url=http://www.andestoamazon.com/Sida/PDF/PDF22(1)/03_Triplett-etal_Arundinaria_79-95.pdf |access-date=2007-07-14 |issue=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930021701/http://www.andestoamazon.com/Sida/PDF/PDF22%281%29/03_Triplett-etal_Arundinaria_79-95.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-30 }}</ref>
==Description== This bamboo is a perennial grass with a rounded, hollow stem which can exceed {{cvt|7|cm|in}} in diameter and grow to a height of {{cvt|10|m|ft}}. It grows from a large network of thick rhizomes. The lance-shaped leaves are up to {{cvt|30|cm|in}} long and {{cvt|4|cm|in}} wide. The inflorescence is a raceme or panicle of spikelets measuring {{cvt|4|to|7|cm|in}} in length. An individual cane has a lifespan of about 10 years.<ref name=feis/><ref name=gm/> Most reproduction is vegetative as the bamboo sprouts new stems from its rhizome. It rarely produces seeds and it flowers irregularly. R.S. Cocks<ref>"Louisiana Botany".[https://www.worldcat.org/lists/aa83f015-82b6-4797-bf86-d9359f33f0b7 Worldcat.org website] Retrieved 23 October 2023.</ref> writing in 1908, stated that certain clumps of bamboo near Abita Springs, Louisiana had been blooming annually in the latter part of May for nine years.<ref>Brown, Clair A. "Notes on Arundinaria." ''Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club'', vol. 56, no. 6, 1929, pp. 315–18. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2480773 JSTOR website] Retrieved 23 Oct. 2023.</ref> Sometimes it flowers gregariously.<ref name="platt">{{Cite journal |author=Platt |first1=Steven G. |last2=Brantley |first2=Christopher G. |last3=Rainwater |first3=Thomas R. |year=2004 |title=Observations of flowering cane (''Arundinacea gigantea'') in Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina |url=http://www.rivercane.msstate.edu/research/activities/pdf/floweringcane.pdf |journal=The Proceedings of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences |issue=66 |pages=17–25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426045157/http://www.rivercane.msstate.edu/research/activities/pdf/floweringcane.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26}}</ref> In its native range, this bamboo is sometimes confused with introduced, non-native bamboos.<ref name="fl">{{Cite web |title=Arundinaria gigantea {{!}} Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants {{!}} University of Florida, IFAS |url=https://plant-directory.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/arundinaria-gigantea/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420210342/https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/arundinaria-gigantea/ |archive-date=April 20, 2023 |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=plants.ifas.ufl.edu}}</ref> Today river cane patches are significantly diminished from their previous size and extent.
==History== Before European settlers colonized North America, Native American peoples throughout the southeastern United States used ''A. gigantea'' to build and craft tools, containers and artistic works, particularly baskets, which used complex techniques requiring great skill.<ref name="stewardship">{{cite book |author1=Andrea L. Rogers |title=Wildlife Stewardship on Tribal Lands |date=2023 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |editor1-last=Hoagland |editor1-first=Serra J. |editor-link=Serra Hoagland |location=Baltimore |pages=309–311 |chapter=28 |editor2-last=Albert |editor2-first=Steven}}</ref> Because of this, the cane is a highly culturally significant species. Native Americans used fire to encourage the growth of river cane, and canes at this time could reach three inches in diameter.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bolgiano |first1=Chris |title=The Appalachian forest: a search for roots and renewal |date=1998 |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |isbn=0-8117-0126-3 |page=45}}</ref>
In the 18th century, European settlers encountered river cane when entering the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. Cane was a striking feature of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, as emphasized by early historians of the state. One source states that the Bluegrass "was carpeted with cane even as the land of Virginia with the grass," and that this was a "novel spectacle" to settlers from Virginia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotterill |first1=R.S. |title=History of Pioneer Kentucky |date=1917 |publisher=Johnson and Harlan |location=Cincinnati |page=4}}</ref> The earliest European map of the region, created by John Filson, shows the northeastern part of the state as "a cane-covered savanna."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Thomas D. |title=Clark County, Kentucky: A History |date=1996 |publisher=Clark County Historical Society |isbn=978-0964849006 |page=10}}</ref> The canebrakes grew so thick and tall they were nearly impenetrable, and could be enormous, such as the 15-mile canebrake covering the ridge top at Cane Ridge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alvey |first1=Gerald R. |title=Kentucky Bluegrass Country |date=1992 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=114}}</ref> A legend from the 1770s describes two men hunting in the same canebrake for days, each hearing another person nearby but not seeing each other, and assuming they were being stalked by an Indian; when they finally met, they were both so relieved that they embraced each other.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alvey |first1=Gerald R. |title=Kentucky Bluegrass Country |date=1992 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=4}}</ref> However, the canebrakes in the Bluegrass were cleared sufficiently for European agriculture to be practiced by 1799. Land survey records from 1820 in Georgia indicate that a 17,250-acre tract in Taylor and Crawford counties, along the western side of the Flint River, was a canebrake "so vast and impenetrable that surveyors could find no trees on which to post their lot numbers."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eubanks |first1=Georgann |title=Saving the Wild South |date=2021 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |page=158 |isbn=9781469664903}}</ref> In 1908, Teddy Roosevelt described cane growing to heights of fifteen to twenty feet in Louisiana, spaced only a few inches apart.
Canebrakes declined after European settlement of the American southeast. Factors involved in the decline include the introduction of livestock such as cattle, which eagerly graze on the leaves. The cane was considered a good forage for the animals until overgrazing began to eliminate canebrake habitat.<ref name=feis/> Other reasons for the decline include the conversion of the land for agriculture<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dattilo |first1=Adam J. |last2=Rhoades |first2=Charles C. |date=December 2005 |title=Establishment of the Woody Grass Arundinaria gigantea for Riparian Restoration |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2005/rmrs_2005_dattilo_a001.pdf |journal=Restoration Ecology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=616–622 |doi=10.1111/j.1526-100X.2005.00079.x |bibcode=2005ResEc..13..616D |s2cid=86518356 |issn=1061-2971}}</ref> and fire suppression.<ref name=bug>{{Cite journal |last1=Bugden |first1=Joni L. |last2=Storie |first2=Christopher D. |last3=Burda |first3=Carey L. |date=2011 |title=Mapping Existing and Potential River Cane (Arundinaria gigantea) Habitat in Western North Carolina |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/southeastern_geographer/v051/51.1.bugden.html |journal=Southeastern Geographer |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=150–164 |doi=10.1353/sgo.2011.0000 |s2cid=129900940 |issn=1549-6929|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Habitat and ecology== {{See also | Canebrake}} During the last Glacial Maximum, the range of this plant was restricted to a narrow strip along the Gulf Coast. When the ice sheets retreated, it spread northward to its current range.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Owens |first1=Chelsea |title=Post-Pleistocene Distribution of Arundinaria gigantea in Northeastern Alabama |journal=Jsu Student Symposium 2021 |date=11 February 2021 |url=https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2021/20/}}</ref>
This native plant is a member of several plant communities today, generally occurring as a component of the understory or midstory. It grows in pine forests dominated by loblolly, slash, longleaf, and shortleaf pine, and stands of oaks, cypress, ash, and cottonwood. Other plants in the understory include inkberry (''Ilex glabra''), creeping blueberry (''Vaccinium crassifolium''), wax myrtle (''Morella cerifera''), blue huckleberry (''Gaylussacia frondosa''), pineland threeawn (''Aristida stricta''), cutover muhly (''Muhlenbergia expansa''), little bluestem (''Schizachyrium scoparium''), and toothache grass (''Ctenium aromaticum''). Cane communities occur on floodplains, bogs, riparian woods, pine barrens and savannas, and pocosins. It grows easily in flooded and saturated soils.<ref name=feis/>
Cane is considered to be a fire dependent species. Canebrakes are maintained by a fire regime where intervals between burns range from 2–8 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arundinaria gigantea |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/arugig/all.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528174235/https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/arugig/all.html |archive-date=May 28, 2023 |website=fs.usda.gov}}</ref>
thumb|''Arundinaria gigantea'' in Natchez, Mississippi, US
Giant cane has been documented as providing food and shelter for 70 species, including six butterfly species that depend almost exclusively on it for food.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Barret |first1=Richard |last2=Grabowski |first2=Janet |last3=Williams |first3=M.J. |title=Giant Cane and Other Native Bamboos: Establishment and Use for Conservation of Natural Resources in the Southeast |url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/flpmctn13727.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402112043/https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/flpmctn13727.pdf |archive-date=April 2, 2023 |access-date=27 November 2022 |website=ncrs.usda.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service}}</ref> An example of a butterfly that requires cane as a food plant is the southern pearly eye.<ref name=fl/> Canebrakes are an important habitat for the Swainson's, hooded, and Kentucky warblers, as well as the white-eyed vireo. The disappearance of the canebrake ecosystem may have contributed to the rarity and possible extinction of the Bachman's warbler, which was dependent upon it for nesting sites.<ref name=feis/><ref name="birdlife">{{Cite web |title=Bachman's Warbler |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bachmans-warbler-vermivora-bachmanii |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420203509/http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bachmans-warbler-vermivora-bachmanii |archive-date=April 20, 2023 |publisher=BirdLife International Species Profile}}</ref> Giant cane was also one of three major sources of food for passenger pigeons, and the disappearance of canebrakes may have helped cause its extinction.<ref name=":0"/>
Giant cane may be prevented from growing by invasive plants like quackgrass that spread horizontally, but tall native plants such as big bluestem and ironweed have been reported to have a positive effect.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Julian |title=Growth of Cane (Arundinaria sensu stricto), the Mysterious Native Bamboo of North America |url=https://bluegrasswoodland.com/uploads/Arundinaria__Growth_of_Cane_.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314163347/https://bluegrasswoodland.com/uploads/Arundinaria__Growth_of_Cane_.pdf |archive-date=March 14, 2023}}</ref>
thumb|''Arundinaria gigantea'' at The Botanical Gardens at Asheville, Asheville, North Carolina, US
==Uses and cultural significance== There are many human uses for the cane. The Cherokee, particularly the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,<ref name=val>{{Citation|author=Lori Valigra|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1107_051108_cherokee.html|title=In Cherokee country, reviving a tree's deep roots| publisher=National Geographic News|date=November 7, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201064640/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1107_051108_cherokee.html|archive-date=2012-02-01}}</ref> use this species in basketry.<ref name="naeb">{{Cite web |title=BRIT - Native American Ethnobotany Database |url=http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Arundinaria+gigantea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023140955/http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Arundinaria+gigantea |archive-date=Oct 23, 2023 |access-date=2024-02-06 |website=naeb.brit.org}}</ref> The Cherokee historically maintained canebrakes with cutting and periodic burning, a practice which stopped with the European settlement of the land.<ref name=bug/> The elimination of cane habitat has nearly resulted in the loss of the art of basketmaking,<ref name=val/><ref name=wcu>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wcu.edu/11457.asp|title=WCU helps Cherokee artists harvest natural materials|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121215161339/http://www.wcu.edu/11457.asp |archive-date=2012-12-15|publisher=Western Carolina University Office of Public Relations|date=November 6, 2008}}</ref> which is important for the economy of the Cherokee today.<ref name="nc">{{Cite web |title=Preserving the past: A guide for North Carolina landowners. |url=https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/preserving-the-past-a-guide-for-north-carolina-landowners |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202110538/https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/preserving-the-past-a-guide-for-north-carolina-landowners |archive-date=Dec 2, 2023 |publisher=North Carolina Cooperative Extension}}</ref> Canebrakes have been reduced in area by at least 98% and cane may take 20 years to grow to a sufficient size to be used for traditional basketry. Because of this, Cherokee basketmakers nowadays often do not have access to the traditional material for making Cherokee baskets, which are considered some of the finest in the world.<ref name="stewardship"/>
The art of river cane basketry is also important to the Choctaw, whose artisans have faced similar problems due to the increasing disappearance of canebrakes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fabvssa |first1=Iti |title=Makers and Masterpieces: Rivercane basketry at the Smithsonian |url=https://www.choctawnation.com/biskinik/makers-and-masterpieces-rivercane-basketry-at-the-smithsonian/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617114416/https://www.choctawnation.com/biskinik/makers-and-masterpieces-rivercane-basketry-at-the-smithsonian/ |archive-date=June 17, 2023 |website=choctawnation.com}}</ref> The cane was also used by groups such as the Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw to make medicine, blowguns, bows and arrows, knives, spears, flutes, candles, walls for dwellings,<ref name=naeb/> fish traps, sleeping mats, tobacco pipes,<ref name=nc/> and food.<ref name=":0" /> River cane is an important symbol of the Choctaw nation because its significance to the nation's history and the numerous ways it provided for the survival of the Choctaw.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Batton |first1=Gary |title=Watonlak Hvshi season is a good time to save the river cane |url=https://www.choctawnation.com/news/chiefs-blog/watonlak-hvshi-season-is-a-good-time-to-save-the-river-cane/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929224844/https://www.choctawnation.com/news/chiefs-blog/watonlak-hvshi-season-is-a-good-time-to-save-the-river-cane/ |archive-date=September 29, 2023 |website=choctawnation.com}}</ref>
In 2022, the Cherokee Nation signed an agreement with the National Park Service to allow collection of 76 culturally important plant species in the Buffalo River National Park in Arkansas, including ''A. gigantea''.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 April 2022 |title=Cherokee Nation, park service reach deal on plant gathering within Buffalo National River |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/apr/20/cherokee-nation-park-service-reach-deal-on-plant-gathering/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206195028/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/apr/20/cherokee-nation-park-service-reach-deal-on-plant-gathering/ |archive-date=Feb 6, 2024 |website=The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette}}</ref>
Giant cane is of interest due to its extraordinary capability to reduce both sediment loss and nitrate runoff when planted as a "buffer" between waterways and agricultural fields. A giant cane buffer zone can reduce nitrate pollution in ground water by 99%.<ref name=":0"/> Stands of cane are superior even to forests as protective buffers around waterways, absorbing sediment and nitrate pollution and dramatically slowing the rate at which runoff enters the stream or river.<ref>{{cite web |title=Canebrake Restoration |url=https://friendsofthecache.org/canebrake-restoration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003111014/https://www.friendsofthecache.org/canebrake-restoration |archive-date=Oct 3, 2023 |access-date=27 November 2022 |website=friendsofthecache.org}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=feis>{{Cite web|author=Jane E. Taylor|year=2006|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/arugig/all.html|title=''Arundinaria gigantea'' In: Fire Effects Information System|publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory}}</ref> <ref name=gm>{{Cite web|url=http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/info2.asp?name=Arundinaria_gigantea&type=treatment|title=''Arundinaria gigantea'' and ''A. tecta''.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120613041714/http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/info2.asp?name=Arundinaria_gigantea&type=treatment |archive-date=June 13, 2012|publisher=Grass Manual Treatment}}</ref> }}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2866037}}
Category:Bambusoideae Category:Grasses of the United States Category:Endemic flora of the United States Category:Flora of the South-Central United States Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States Category:Warm-season grasses of North America Category:Native American ethnobotany