This reed is very commonly seen in Lewisboro wherever there are wetlands, ponds or marshy areas. This invasive species is very damaging to our local habitats. Native plants are crowded out and huge areas become a monoculture of phragmites, which do not support wildlife.

Plants can spread through rhizomes, stolons and seed. Root growth below ground is also profuse. Phragmites forms a thicket of roots and rhizomes that can spread 10 or more feet and several feet deep in one growing season.

Infestations can overtake hundreds of acres, displace critical wetland species and alter site hydrology.