When many individuals consider bamboo, they could image serene forests in Asia filled with this panda-favorite snack. However bamboo naturally grows on 5 contents, together with one species native to Missouri. Big cane, Missouri’s native bamboo, is culturally important for quite a lot of indigenous tribes. It’s additionally meals and shelter for a lot of animals. As soon as outstanding in native landscapes, it’s now an endangered ecosystem.
What’s Missouri’s Native bamboo?
Arundinaria gigantea is understood by many various widespread names together with large cane, river cane, and canebrake bamboo. The genus Arundinaria is small, containing solely a handful of species all native to North America.
The place Does Big Cane Develop?
Big cane is probably the most widespread of the North American species. It grows in bottomland forests, river and stream banks or the bases of bluffs. Its native vary is from southern Missouri east via the Ohio River Valley to the Atlantic Coastal Plain and south to jap Texas and peninsular Florida.
What does it appear to be?
Mature stands are known as “canebrakes.” They and might be very dense, reaching 12 or extra ft tall in Missouri. It spreads by underground rhizomes. In hotter climates, large cane can attain as a lot as 25 ft tall. Flowering is sporadic, reportedly occurring solely as soon as each 40-50 years. This species primarily reproduces vegetatively when items of rhizome break off and float downstream.
What human use does large cane have?
Cane holds cultural significance for quite a lot of Native American tribes together with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and plenty of others. They use the considerable, versatile, and durable, the stems for weaving baskets and mats. Stems are additionally used for crafting arrows, atlatl darts, spears, blowguns, and fish traps. Flutes and pipes are additionally constructed from cane. Early non-native settlers used cane to make fishing poles and as forage for his or her livestock. Cane pole fishing remains to be a preferred pastime immediately.
How do animals work together with the plant?
Many animals together with white-tailed deer, turkey, black bears, and (traditionally) bison use canebrakes for shelter and meals. Canebrakes additionally present nesting habitat for a lot of reptiles, birds, and small mammals. In Missouri’s Bootheel area the swamp rabbit, a species of conservation concern in Missouri, makes use of canebrakes for canopy and forage. Swainson’s warbler, thought-about endangered in Missouri, nests in canebrakes, forested wetlands, and moist thickets. A lot of butterfly and moth species depend on Arundinaria species as a larval meals supply. This consists of the southern pearly-eye and lace-winged roadside skipper.
What threats does this species face?
Canebrakes had been as soon as a dominant function alongside the rivers and streams of the southern United States. As we speak, it’s thought-about an endangered ecosystem.
The arrival of European settlers marked the start of a major decline in large cane populations. These settlers actively eliminated canebrakes make approach for agriculture, grazing land, and improvement. Damming and channelization altered hydrology making areas much less appropriate to cane. Hearth suppression led to forests spreading into canebrake habitat. Invasive plant species have taken the place of canebrakes alongside riparian corridors. Feral hogs eat younger shoots and dig up rhizomes. Estimates of the decline within the large cane inhabitants are as excessive as 98 p.c. This implies tons of of 1000’s of acres misplaced.
Saving the species
Conservation efforts together with defending present species and reintroducing large cane the place it was as soon as widespread. It will assist to protect its cultural and ecological significance. Big cane naturalizes alongside stream banks, pond edges, and moist slopes. There, it’s going to present habitat for wildlife and cut back soil erosion.
Nonetheless, large cane is just not nicely fitted to small gardens or dwelling landscapes. The spreading rhizomes might be aggressive and will require management measures corresponding to hardscaping or different obstacles to maintain it from overtaking a smaller house.
The place can I see the species within the Backyard?
The Backyard has shows of large cane within the Youngsters’s Backyard and within the Japanese Backyard.
Justine Kandra
Horticulturist