Pest Photo

Jil Swearingen, USDI National Park Service, Bugwood.org

Common reed

Phragmites australis (communis)

Common reed (Phragmites australis (communis)) is an invasive plant. It was first detected in West Virginia in 1969.

Common reed commonly forms extensive stands), which may be as much as a square kilometer or more in extent. This non-native grass is beginning to crowd out local plant life, growing and spreading into dense 15 foot-high clusters and threatening to dominate entire ecosystems.

For more information about this plant pest, see the CABI data sheet.