• This association is characterized by dense, often monospecific thickets of the bamboo shrub Arundinaria gigantea occupying large areas referred to as canebrakes.
  • The canebrake shrubland type was historically widespread, but is now rare and occupies very little of its former acreage.
  • It was best developed in streamside flats and alluvial floodplains on ridges and terraces where it was protected from prolonged inundation.
  • Historically, this community covered large areas of many floodplains and streamsides in the Coastal Plain from North Carolina to Texas, Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, Interior Highlands, Interior Low Plateau, Southern Blue Ridge and possibly the Central Appalachians of the southeastern United States.
  • Stands occur on alluvial and loess soils and are often associated with bottomland hardwood forest vegetation.
  • This association is successional and is thought to be maintained by periodic fires.
    
    
• It may have originated following abandonment of aboriginal agricultural fields or other natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as blow-downs and catastrophic floods.
• Historical accounts report cane as abundant along the Wabash and Ohio drainage systems, as well as common along larger rivers (Buffalo, White, Norfork) in the Ozarks and Ouachitas.
• It was also reported as common along the Red and Mississippi rivers in Louisiana, Coastal Prairie rivers in Texas, and the Black, Washita, Arkansas, Sabine, Pearl, Tombigbee, Yazoo, Savannah, and St. Mary's rivers.
• Large, extant canebrakes still exist and have been documented from the Ocmulgee Basin, south of Macon, Georgia.
  
  
• In the Central Appalachians various wetlands, including those on alluvial or loess substrates (streamside flats, bottomlands), were dominated by Arundinaria, without an overstory, or with widely scattered trees.

• The single example of this community observed on the Cades Cove quadrangle covers approximately 750 square meters.
  • It is a dense, monospecific stand of Arundinaria gigantea.

• This association was widespread historically but now occupies very little acreage.
  • It may be found along rivers and streamsides in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and possibly Virginia (?).

• This community was sampled from one location on the Cades Cove quadrangle.
  • It is unlikely on the Mount Le Conte quadrangle.
  • It could occur in other areas of the park, particularly along larger rivers.
    
    
• This community was sampled from the western end of the Cades Cove Loop Road, along Abrams Creek.

• Global Conservation Status Rank: G2? (Last reviewed: 02 15 1999).
  
  
• Stands of this vegetation type were historically widespread, but now are rare or occupy very little acreage.
  • It is thought to be maintained by frequent fire and may have historically resulted from aboriginal agriculture and burning.
  • Dense, monospecific stands of Arundinaria gigantea ssp. gigantea were historically found in bottomland sites throughout the southeastern United States.
  • Today, this vegetation exists as small remnants, and high-quality examples are extremely rare.

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