Cinna arundinacea

Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: wood reed grass 
Type: Ornamental grass
Family: Poaceae
Native Range: Eastern and central United States
Zone: 4 to 7
Height: 2.00 to 5.00 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to August
Bloom Description: Green
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Tolerate: Erosion

Culture

Easily grown in average, medium to wet soils, in full sun to part shade. Best grown in moist, organically rich loams in part shade. Thrives in moist sun-dappled conditions. Plants in full sun need consistent moisture.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Cinna arundinacea, commonly known as wood reed grass, is a warm season perennial grass that typically grows to 2-5' tall on erect, glabrous, light green culms (stems) clad with flat, narrow, gray-green leaves (to 14" long and 1/2" wide) with scabrous margins. Each culm is topped in summer by an open, dense, nodding, many-flowered, terminal panicle (to 4-10" long) with ascending branches. This grass is native to wet woodlands, moist ravines, damp thickets and streambanks from Quebec and Maine to Ontario and Minnesota south to Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas (Steyermark). It is found throughout the State of Missouri.

Specific epithet means reedlike.

Problems

No serious insect or disease problems.

Uses

Moist woodland areas. Native plant gardens.