Morphological and genetic analyses of herbarium specimens clarify the arrival of non-native common reed (phragmites australis subsp. australis) in Kansas (U.S.A.)
Beck, James B. DeVilbiss, Isabell Hendrix, Sydney Huela, Tommy Moore, Mason Slivka, Yana Smith, David Standley, Cassandra Freeman, Craig C.
Beck, James B.
DeVilbiss, Isabell
Hendrix, Sydney
Huela, Tommy
Moore, Mason
Slivka, Yana
Smith, David
Standley, Cassandra
Freeman, Craig C.
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Issue Date
2025-12-16
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Article
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Keywords
Great Plains,Herbarium DNA,Invasive species,Poaceae
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Citation
Beck, J. B., DeVilbiss, I., Hendrix, S., Huela, T., Moore, M., Slivka, Y., Smith, D., Standley, C., & Freeman, C. C. (2025). Morphological and genetic analyses of herbarium specimens clarify the arrival of non-native common reed (Phragmites australis subsp. australis) in Kansas (U.S.A.). Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 19(4), 629–635. https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v19.i4.1449
Abstract
The common reed, Phragmites australis, is a globally distributed grass species with numerous named subspecific taxa. In North America, a non-native Eurasian subspecies has established and is rapidly expanding its range at the expense of a native subspecies. Our understanding of the common reed invasion in North America is possible because diagnostic data can be obtained from freshly collected and herbarium material, allowing the geography of subspecies to be understood through time. In this study, these morphological and genetic tools were used to diagnose subspecies in a set of specimens from Kansas collected between 1936–2024. Morphological and genetic diagnoses of subspecies agreed in 92% of cases. The non-native subspecies is present in Kansas and arrived in the 1970s or 1980s based on morphological or genetic data, respectively. The last native subspecies specimen was observed in the late 1990s, suggesting that statewide invasion could have been rapid. However, relatively recent specimens are not available for large portions of the state, particularly western Kansas. Additional sampling of both herbarium and freshly collected material is needed to fully understand the historic and current distribution of common reed subspecies in Kansas. © 2025 Botanical Research Institute of Texas. All rights reserved.
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Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Journal
Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas
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19345259