Single Record

PhotoRecords: YES Richard Haswell: Rio Grande Co, shore of Big Meadows Reservoir 9 Aug 2025

Comments: Common reed, perennial and warm-season, is a grass that grows by and sometimes in water, along ponds, ditches, and back waters. In the Watershed, Phragmites australis has one voucher, a stand found by Hobie Dixon in 1993 in the Alamosa Wildlife Preserve. Ackerfield (2022) does not accept this record. Shaw (2008), however, cites Alamosa, Costilla, and Conejos counties. BONAP accepts Shaw. For a late observation (2024), see iNaturalist observation #205597457, photographing a colony on the Bluff Nature trail just east of the Rio Grande in Alamosa Co. For the most recent observation, see photorecords here (Rio Grand Co, Big Meadows Reservoir, 2025). The USA distribution spreads across nearly every state. The species follows the Rio Grande drainage solidly through New Mexico on down to the Gulf of Mexico. Note that although the Watershed basin lies at the upper elevation limit of P. australis, the plant tolerates alkaline habitats, common in the Valley. This aquatic grass spreads by runners. Allred et al. (2020) list many uses of this plant, from arrow shafts to ink quills. Note that in the USA, Phragmites australis has a native and an exotic variety. The exotic is the more aggressive and in some regions is replacing the native.