Calamagrostis epigejos(L.) Roth

WFO wfo-0000857259 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. a Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-30 / obs. 193206716
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Vladimír Fuka
fig. b Vladimír Fuka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178026860
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. c Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174833990
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Vladimír Fuka
fig. d Vladimír Fuka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170621782
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Tikhon Pshenitsyn
fig. e Tikhon Pshenitsyn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 168782192
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by snaily_naily
fig. f snaily_naily, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169850465
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Vladimír Fuka
fig. g Vladimír Fuka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167596722
Calamagrostis epigejos, photographed by Ivan Celikov
fig. h Ivan Celikov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166849825

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 79 botanical countries

Regions where Calamagrostis epigejos is native: Cape Provinces, Ethiopia, Kenya, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, Chita, Cyprus, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine Cape ProvincesEthiopiaKenyaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChitaCyprusInner MongoliaIranIraqIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine KoreaSardegna
Native distribution of Calamagrostis epigejos, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
Chita CTA
Cyprus CYP
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Cape Provinces CPP AFRICA
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 120 in flower of 713 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Calamagrostis epigejos observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 120 of 713 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,037 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -19.5 °C -10.8 °C -2.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.1 °C 23.3 °C 26.3 °C
Annual rainfall 442 mm 636 mm 814 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 54 mm 104 mm 150 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,037 research-grade observations of Calamagrostis epigejos that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 134 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agrostis alba var. umbrosa (Pers.) K.Richt.
  • Agrostis epigeios Raspail
  • Agrostis epigejos (L.) Raspail
  • Agrostis umbrosa Pers. ex Trin.
  • Arundo calamagrostis M.Bieb.
  • Arundo epigejos L.
  • Arundo epigejos var. glauca Jüngst
  • Arundo epigejos var. intermedia (C.C.Gmel.) Roth
  • Arundo epigejos var. minor Roth
  • Arundo intermedia C.C.Gmel.
  • Athernotus epigeios Dulac
  • Athernotus epigejos (L.) Dulac
  • Calamagrostis acrathera Peterm.
  • Calamagrostis acrathera var. abbreviata Peterm.
  • Calamagrostis arenicola Fernald
  • Calamagrostis chilensis Phil.
  • Calamagrostis costei Sennen
  • Calamagrostis epigea St.-Lag.
  • Calamagrostis epigeios f. densiflora (Ledeb. ex Griseb.) Serb. & Beldie
  • Calamagrostis epigeios f. fissa Zapal.
  • Calamagrostis epigeios f. laeviculmis H.Lindb.
  • Calamagrostis epigeios f. virescens Andersson
  • Calamagrostis epigeios subsp. acranthera (Peterm.) K.Richt.
  • Calamagrostis epigeios subsp. extremiorientalis Tzvelev

and 110 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.