A canebrake or canebreak is a

thicket A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in t ...

of any of a variety of ''

Arundinaria ''Arundinaria'' is a genus of bamboo in the grass family the members of which are referred to generally as cane. ''Arundinaria'' is the only bamboo native to south and southeastern North America, with a native range from Maryland south to Florid ...

'' grasses: '' A. gigantea'', '' A. tecta'' and '' A. appalachiana''. As a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

, these giant

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

grow in thickets up to 24 ft tall. ''A. gigantea'' is generally found in stream valleys and ravines throughout the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

. ''A. tecta'' is a smaller stature species found on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. Finally, ''A. appalachiana'' is found in more upland areas at the southern end of the

Appalachian mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Cane does not do well on sites that meet

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

classification; instead canebrakes are characteristic of moist lowland, floodplain areas that are not as saturated as true wetlands. Canebrakes were formerly widespread in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, potentially covering 10 million acres, but have been widely replaced by

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. This destruction has impacted a number of species. The survival of the

Florida panther The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks, and mixed freshwater swamp forests. It is known under a number of common names including Costa R ...

(''Puma concolor'' subsp. ''coryi'') has been challenged, and

Bachman's warbler Bachman's warbler (''Vermivora bachmanii'') is a likely extinct passerine migratory bird. This warbler was a migrant, breeding in swampy blackberry and cane thickets of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States and wintering in Cuba. There ...

(''Vermivora bachmanii'') has gone extinct. Other species considered canebrake specialists include as many as seven

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

species and five known

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

species dependent on Arundinaria bamboos as a host plant, and

Swainson's warbler Swainson's warbler (''Limnothlypis swainsonii'') is a small species of New World warbler. It is monotypic, the only member of the genus ''Limnothlypis''. Swainson's warbler was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist. Descriptio ...

(''Limnothlypis swainsonii''). Swainson's warbler has recently been found to use pine plantations (widespread across the Southeastern United States) of a particular age, as they may provide the structural features and prey base that the species seeks. Contrary to the characterization of canebrakes as homogenous, they host a great diversity of species, including globally rare species. A survey of canebrakes in the Carolinas found 330 taxa living in the canebrake habitat, a number that would likely increase with more study. Canebrakes provide habitat for the critically endangered Alabama canebrake pitcher plant, which is only found in 11 sites in just two counties of the state of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. Cane can propagate itself rapidly through asexual reproduction, allowing it to persist quietly in the shade of a forest for years and rapidly take advantage of disturbance such as wildfire. Historically, canebrakes were maintained by Native Americans using

controlled burn A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A control ...

s. The fire would burn the aboveground part of the plant but leave the underground rhizomes unharmed. Canebrakes have been identified as important ecosystems for supporting over 70 wildlife species, possibly ideal candidates for mitigating nitrate pollution in groundwater, and crucial to the material cultures of Southeastern Native American nations, but relatively little study has been devoted to them, partially because virtually all canebrakes that still exist are isolated and fragmentary. Canebrakes are unlikely to be reestablished significantly under current methods of land management, but there is interest in finding out how to restore them.

Rare plant species

Canebrakes have been found to provide habitat for the following rare plants: * Lysimachia asperulifolia, rough-leaved loosestrife *

Lilium pyrophilum ''Lilium pyrophilum'', the sandhills lily, is a North American species of plant in the lily family. It is endemic to the Sandhills region of southern Virginia, North Carolina and northern South Carolina, in the eastern United States.

, sandhills lily *

Eupatorium resinosum ''Eupatorium resinosum'', the pine barren thoroughwort, is a rare North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. ''Eupatorium resinosum'' is native to the eastern coastal states of the United States, though with a discontinuous distribut ...

, pine barrens thoroughwort *

Dionaea muscipula The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping ...

, Venus flytrap *

Sarracenia alabamensis ''Sarracenia alabamensis'', also known as the cane-brake pitcher plant, is a carnivorous plant in the genus ''Sarracenia''. Like all the ''Sarracenia'', it is native to the New World. ''S. alabamensis'' subsp. ''alabamensis'' is found only ...

, Alabama canebrake pitcher plant

Conservation

Canebrakes are considered a critically endangered ecosystem by many biologists, but they have been studied very little. Southern Illinois University conducts some ongoing research on restoring canebrakes. There is also a great interest among the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

nation of Native Americans to restore canebrakes, to preserve the crucial roles the plant plays in Cherokee culture and to stop the art of river cane basket weaving from dying out.The various insect species that are Arundinaria specialists are at risk due to their sensitivity to habitat fragmentation. A major obstacle to restoring canebrakes is the reproductive habits of Arundinaria bamboos; Arundinaria typically

reproduces asexually Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...

using rhizomes, forming

clonal colonies A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in s ...

that spread outward. The plant only flowers every few decades, and usually dies after flowering; additionally, seeds are often not viable. Therefore, propagating the plant must usually be done by dividing existing colonies or growing rhizome cuttings. Conducting studies has been challenging; experimental plantings of cane in a study conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University to test the erosion mitigation potential of canebrakes yielded no results because only 1.2% of seedlings survived the following year. Southern Illinois University researchers have located 140 patches of giant cane and collaborate with many conservation organizations and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service in the effort to replant 15 acres of cane per year. In South Carolina, the Chattooga Conservancy has formed a collaboration with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee and the USDA Forest Service to restore 29 acres of canebrake. Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources has also coordinated the restoration of river cane on a 109-acre site in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. This restoration area will include educational signage in the Cherokee and English languages.

References

Grasses Habitats Riparian zone Environmental conservation Plant communities of the Eastern United States {{habitat-stub