Plants currently treated in the genus Arundinaria were first described scientifically by Thomas Walter in his Flora Caroliniana, 1788.
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Most recently, in 2006 researchers from Iowa State University and the University of North Carolina recognised and described a third species, Arundinaria appalachiana Triplett, Weakley & L.G. Clark.
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Preliminary phylogenetic studies in 2006 using molecular and morphological evidence have suggested that the genus forms three natural species confined to the southeastern United States.
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The canes of the southeastern U.S. were originally described as two species of reed grasses in the genus Arundo by Thomas Walter in 1788.
One of the more recent and thorough surveys of Arundinaria was undertaken by Floyd Alonzo McClure in 1973 and includes only one species, namely Arundinaria gigantea.