Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-977
Switchcane
Arundinaria tecta
Switchcane is a smaller native North American bamboo of wet, low ground such as swamp margins and non-moving backwater, distinct from the taller river cane of active floodplains. It forms low thickets of thin, wiry canes, typically 2 to 6 feet tall and occasionally taller, spreading by vigorous running rhizomes. Like its larger relative it has been used for basketry and traditional building material, and its dense growth offers year-round cover for wildlife.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 6–9
- Soil
- Loam · Sand
- Moisture
- Moist · Wet
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 4.5–7
- Plant type
- Grass
- Mature height
- 2–12 ft
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 15–20 ft
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Root
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Agarita
Alloberberis trifoliolata
Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to…
Shrub · USDA 7–9
American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
American Beautyberry is an arching deciduous shrub of rich woods, moist thickets and swamp edges across the southeastern and south-central…
Shrub · USDA 6–10
American Black Currant
Ribes americanum
American black currant is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub native to the cooler parts of eastern and central North America, from Alberta to…
Shrub · USDA 3–7
American Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
American Elderberry gives two harvests a year - creamy flower clusters in June for cordial, fritters and tea, and purple-black berries in…
Shrub · USDA 4–8
American Gooseberry
Ribes hirtellum
American gooseberry is a low, multistemmed shrub native from Labrador and Manitoba south to Maryland and Iowa, and the wild parent behind…
Shrub · USDA 4–6
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
American Hazelnut is a thicket-forming shrub that bears small, thick-shelled nuts good raw or cooked, and it pollinates itself, so a single…
Shrub · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference