Family: Orchidaceae

Arundina graminifolia (bamboo orchid) is a tall, reed-like orchid native to tropical Asia, from India and southern China to Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. Its slender, bamboo-like stems and showy pink-purple flowers make it a popular ornamental plant in tropical gardens. In Hawaiʻi, bamboo orchid has naturalized in many areas, particularly along roadsides, pastures, and disturbed forest edges on most main islands. It thrives in full sun and moist to mesic environments.

Although its flowers are attractive and often admired by gardeners and hikers alike, bamboo orchid is considered invasive in Hawaiʻi and spreads readily by seed into open habitats. Because it is already widespread and difficult to control, planting or encouraging its spread is discouraged. Gardeners are urged to choose non-invasive ornamental orchids or other native species to help protect Hawaiʻi’s unique ecosystems.

High Risk Traits:

• Broad climate suitability (tropical/subtropical)
  
• Environmental versatility (elevation, soils)
  
• Repeatedly introduced via cultivation
  
• Naturalized outside native range (including Kaua'i, O'ahu, Lana'i , Maui and Hawai'i)
  
• Weed in disturbed areas (roadsides, lava fields)
  
• Produces viable, wind-dispersed seeds
  
• Reproduces vegetatively (rhizomes, tubers)
  
• Dispersed by wind, water, and humans
  
• Tolerates and benefits from fire
  
• Prolific seed production

Low Risk Traits:

• No spines, thorns, or burrs
  
• Not toxic or parasitic
  
• Not allelopathic
  
• Does not create a fire hazard
  
• No weedy congeners
  
• No persistent seed bank
  
• Not a significant environmental weed