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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
ABBREVIATION :
ARUGIG
SYNONYMS :
Arundinaria tecta (Walt.) Muhl.
SCS PLANT CODE :
ARGI
COMMON NAMES :
cane
giant cane
switchcane
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for cane is Arundinaria gigantea
(Walt.) Walt. Ex Muhl. Recognized subspecies are:
A. gigantea ssp. gigantea - giant cane
A. gigantea ssp. tecta (Walt.) McClure - switchcane
A. gigantea ssp. macrosperma (Michx.) McClure
Until recently, switchcane and giant cane were considered distinct
species: A. tecta (switchcane), and A. gigantea (giant cane). The
current classification of subspecies is based primarily on the presence
or absence of air canals in the rhizomes, and is not always conclusive
[8]. Authors recognizing Arundinaria tecta as a separate species will
be noted.
LIFE FORM :
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Crystal Walkup, October 1991
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Walkup, Crystal. Arundinaria gigantea. 1991. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Cane occurs from southern Maryland and Virginia to southern Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, south to central Florida, and west to
Texas. Although once very widespread, extensive stands are now largely
confined to the bottomlands of the Mississippi Delta and the swamplands
of North Carolina and Virginia [9,19].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR DE FL GA IL IN KY LA MD
MS MO NC OH SC TN TX VA WV
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
BISO BITH BUFF CHCH COLO COSW
CUGA CUIS FOCA FODO GRSM GUIS
HOBE HOSP MACA NATR OBRI OZAR
SHIL
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K089 Blackbelt
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K091 Cypress savanna
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest (seral stages)
K114 Pocosin
SAF COVER TYPES :
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
85 Slash pine - hardwood
87 Sweetgum - yellow-poplar
89 Live oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
97 Atlantic white-cedar
98 Pond pine
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Cane is one of the most valuable native forages in the Coastal Plain
region of Virginia and North Carolina [19]. During winter when other
green herbage is scarce, cattle graze the leaves and stems. On an
experimental range in North Carolina, cane was grazed from May to
January and furnished 70 to 90 percent of the cattle diet [8]. Black
bears graze this species in the southeastern United States [10].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Cane is one of the most nutritious native forage plants growing in the
eastern United States [11]. Crude protein, calcium, and phosphorus are
well above the requirements for maturing cattle [8]. Crude protein
varies from a high of 20 percent in June to 14 percent in September and
October, and 12 percent in December [11]. Digestible nutrients in cane
foliage are highest during May and June, then decline rapidly during the
remainder of the summer and fall [12].
COVER VALUE :
Dense, tall patches of cane (A. g. spp. tecta) form almost impenetrable
thickets; therefore, only small birds and mammals are likely to find
cover in these areas [12].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Cane can withstand extended flooding, drought, and intense surface
fires, making it a remarkably stable source of forage. The species is,
however, sensitive to overgrazing. Plants are often completely
defoliated by cattle because leaves are produced on branches well above
the ground. The most readily accessible cane is generally 80 to 100
percent defoliated by the end of the grazing season if stocking rates
are high [19]. Where cane furnishes a minor part of the forage, it is
usually overgrazed. Under careful management, however, grazing capacity
of cane is high, ranging from 0.5 to 1 acre per cow-month [8].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Cane is a native, woody, perennial, rhizomatous grass. The aerial stems
range from 2 to 26 feet (0.6-8 m) tall, making cane the largest native
grass in the United States. Spikelets have 8 to 12 flowers, and
generally occur in racemes or panicles but may be solitary [9]. Seeds
are brown, ellipsoid, and 0.27 to 0.31 inch (7-8 mm) long [17]. Unlike
most other grasses, cane possesses evergreen stems which survive for up
to 10 years. Cane is easily distinguished from other grasses by its
stout, hollow, jointed stems [8].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Reproduction is primarily vegetative from robust rhizomes. Seed
production is sparse and unpredictable; plants are monocarpic [9,17,19].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Cane inhabits low-lying, moist to wet sites, including low woodlands of
various mixtures, woodlands on mesic and submesic slopes and uplands,
river and stream banks, shrub-tree bogs and bays, sloughs, bayous and
pocosins, and mesic to wet savannahs [9,21]. Pocosins represent the
lower limit of site quality tolerated by cane.
Surface soils are organic and highly acid [19]. They may be peat or
sands to sandy loams darkened by humus [4,22]. The water level remains
at or near the soil surface for extended periods during the wet season
but falls well below the soil surface later in the growing season
[16,19,22].
Cane is usually intermixed with shrubs, but in more favorable
situations, often forms dense stands or breaks. Brakes composed of
large cane occur in fertile, alluvial river bottoms sufficiently
elevated so that flooding is of short duration. Elsewhere, cane tends
to be shorter and smaller in diameter [9].
Associated overstory species include red maple (Acer rubrum),
loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus), Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra),
honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus),
and pawpaw (Asimina triloba). Understory species include laurelleaf
greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia), inkberry (Ilex glabra), large gallberry
(I. coriacea), zenobia (Zenobia pulverulenta), swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla
racemiflora), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), sweet pepperbush
(Clethra alnifolia), and saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens).
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
The canebrake community is fire-dependent, forming an ecotone
transitional between savannas and wetlands such as pocosin, bay-gall,
bay forest, or swamp forest. Canebrakes may alternate with these types
on the same soil if fire frequency changes [6]. Following fire in the
pocosins of North Carolina, cane (A. g. ssp. tecta) quickly assumes
dominance over the more common shrubs (inkberry and swamp cyrilla) [22].
Cane does not spread rapidly into either early or late successional
forest types. It has been hypothesized that it was formerly
concentrated in ecotonal areas, along with Ohio buckeye, honey locust,
coffee tree, and pawpaw, between the most frequently disturbed areas and
the less disturbed forests of sugar maples (Acer saccharinum), hickories
(Carya sp.), ashes (Fraxinus sp.), and oaks (Quercus sp.). Such
ecotonal vegetation may have been relatively stable, being maintained by
small-scale oscillation of forest boundaries rather than long-term
directional succession. The reproductive characteristics of cane
(strong vegetative regeneration and poor seed dispersal) make it better
suited to stable regimes with moderate disturbance [2].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Foliage production occurs between late April and early July in North
Carolina, with green foliage held well into winter and even until the
following spring in protected sites [19]. Flowering occurs from April
to July in the northern extent of its range, and from March to April in
Florida [3,17]. While individual stems may live 10 years, the average
stand age remains near 3 or 4 years as a result of gradual mortality and
replacement [12].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Canebrakes are fire-dependent ecosystems. In the absence of fire, cane
stands lose vigor, thin-out, and die. Historical records indicate a
usual fire interval of 3 to 5 years [12].
Cane survives fire by resprouting from rhizomes [12,19].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
The woody stems and leaves of cane are readily killed by fire [12].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Vigorous new stands of cane appear immediately following fire [12], and
herbage yield increases. Cane is favored over associated shrubs because
of its rapid growth rate; on upland sites, it flowers in response to
burning [8,14,19]. The only adverse response has been susceptibility to
frost (A. g. ssp. tecta) the fall following burning [11].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
In South Carolina, herbage yields of cane (A. g. ssp. tecta) increased
in response to periodic summer and annual winter burning conducted over
a period of 20 years [14].
Following two fires, one in February and one in April, ungrazed cane
produced new stands by midsummer which were practically equal in height
to the preburn stands. Growth of shrub sprouts was less rapid. At the
end of the second season, cane still dominated, but shrubs were
appearing in the upper canopy [19].
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Control of cane fires is difficult or impossible because of their speed
and intensity [11]. Periodic burning eliminates the fire hazard during
the first growing season and reduces it for 2 or 3 years. Fuels in
canebrakes reach a peak of 5 to 7 tons/acre (11,200-15,600 kg/ha) after
only 3 to 4 years of fire protection. A short burning cycle would,
therefore, be preferable from the standpoint of continued fire hazard
reduction [12].
Grazing also reduces the fire hazard in cane stands. In the pocosins of
North Carolina, grazing reduced the total combustible material per acre
by 43 percent. Three different fires were noticeably slowed down and/or
stopped once they entered the grazed area. Although burning may be
beneficial in some respects, burned cane range is particularly
susceptible to grazing damage, and over-use of fresh burns must be
avoided to maintain grazing values [19]. Grazing should be withheld for
the first part of the growing season to assure full development of a
sufficient number of new stems to replenish the stand. Thereafter, if
the major management objective is cattle grazing, prescribed fire should
be introduced at 10-year intervals [12].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Arundinaria gigantea | Cane
REFERENCES :
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reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
[434]
2. Campbell, Julian J. N. 1989. Historical evidence of forest composition
in the bluegrass region of Kentucky. In: Rink, George; Budelsky, Carl
A., eds. Proceedings, 7th central hardwood conference; 1989 March 5-8;
Carbondale, IL. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-132. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station:
231-246. [9385]
3. Clewell, Andre F. 1985. Guide to the vascular plants of the Florida
Panhandle. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Press. 605 p.
[13124]
4. Eleuterius, L. N.; Jones, S. B., Jr. 1969. A floristic and ecological
study of pitcher plant bogs in south Mississippi. Rhodora. 71: 29-34.
[12333]
5. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
6. Frost, Cecil C.; Walker, Joan; Peet, Robert K. 1986. Fire-dependent
savannas and prairies of the Southeast: original extent, preservation
status and management problems. In: Kulhavy, D. L.; Conner, R. N., eds.
Wilderness and natural areas in the eastern United States: a management
challenge. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin University: 348-357.
[10333]
7. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
8. Grelen, Harold E.; Hughes, Ralph H. 1984. Common herbaceous plants of
Southern forest range. Res. Pap. SO-210. New Orleans, LA: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest and Range
Experiment Station. 147 p. [2946]
9. Godfrey, Robert K. 1988. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of northern
Florida and adjacent Georgia and Alabama. Athens, GA: The University of
Georgia Press. 734 p. [10239]
10. Hellgren, Eric C.; Vaughan, Michael R.; Stauffer, Dean F. 1991.
Macrohabitat use by black bears in a southeastern wetland. Journal of
Wildlife Management. 55(3): 442-448. [15420]
11. Hilmon, J. B.; Hughes, Ralph H. 1965. Forest Service research on the use
of fire in livestock management in the South. In: Proceedings, 4th
annual Tall Timbers fire ecology conference; 1965 March 18-19;
Tallahassee, FL. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station:
260-275. [16247]
12. Hughes, Ralph H. 1966. Fire ecology of canebrakes. In: Proceedings, 5th
annual Tall Timbers fire ecology conference; 1966 March 24-25;
Tallahassee, FL. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station:
148-158. [16236]
13. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
14. Lewis, Clifford E.; Harshbarger, Thomas J. 1976. Shrub and herbaceous
vegetation after 20 years of prescribed burning in the South Carolina
coastal plain. Journal of Range Management. 29(1): 13-18. [7621]
15. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession
following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall
Timbers fire ecology conference and Intermountain Fire Research Council
fire and land management symposium; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. No.
14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
16. Penfound, William T. 1952. Southern swamps and marshes. The Botanical
Review. 18: 413-446. [11477]
17. Radford, Albert E.; Ahles, Harry E.; Bell, C. Ritchie. 1968. Manual of
the vascular flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of
North Carolina Press. 1183 p. [7606]
18. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
19. Shepherd, W. O.; Dillard, E. U.; Lucas, H. L. 1951. Grazing and fire
influences in pond pine forests. Tech. Bull. No. 97. Raleigh, NC: North
Carolina State College, Agricultural Experiment Station. 56 p. In
cooperation with: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. [14546]
20. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
21. Walker, Joan; Peet, Robert K. 1983. Composition and species diversity of
pine-wiregrass savannas of the Green Swamp, North Carolina. Vegetatio.
55: 163-179. [10132]
22. Wells, B. W. 1928. Plant communities of the Coastal Plain of North
Carolina and their successional relations. Ecology. 9(2): 230-242.
[9307]
23. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
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Index
Related categories for Species: Arundinaria gigantea
| Cane
|
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