Calamagrostis pseudophragmites(Haller f.) Koeler

coastal small-reed

WFO wfo-0000857872 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Calamagrostis pseudophragmites, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. a Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / 2017-09-30 / obs. 31254438

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3600686
Filed as
Calamagrostis pseudophragmites var. pseudophragmites
Det. by
Soreng, Robert J., Research Associate (BOT), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
R. J. Soreng, D. Johnson, P. Johnson, N. Dzyubenko, E. Dzyubenko & D. Schilnikov 2010-08-02
Origin
RU
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 54 botanical countries

Regions where Calamagrostis pseudophragmites is native: Afghanistan, Altay, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AfghanistanAltayBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIranIraqIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusQinghaiTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaEast HimalayaIndiaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Calamagrostis pseudophragmites, 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
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 69 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -13.4 °C -6.3 °C -2.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.8 °C 23.3 °C 26.5 °C
Annual rainfall 564 mm 956 mm 1,586 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 29 mm 149 mm 279 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 69 research-grade observations of Calamagrostis pseudophragmites 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.

Also published as 69 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.

  • Arundo alpestris Haller ex Roem. & Schult.
  • Arundo annulata Roem. & Schult.
  • Arundo biebersteiniana Schult.
  • Arundo effusa C.C.Gmel.
  • Arundo glauca M.Bieb.
  • Arundo glauca var. angustifolia M.Bieb.
  • Arundo laxa (Host) Wahlenb.
  • Arundo litorea Schrad.
  • Arundo littorea var. major Roth
  • Arundo pseudophragmites Haller f.
  • Arundo pseudophragmites var. maior Gaudin
  • Arundo pseudophragmites var. major Gaudin
  • Arundo sabuli Kit.
  • Calamagrostis dubia Bunge
  • Calamagrostis dubia var. hirta Litv.
  • Calamagrostis epigeios var. reichenbachiana Grecescu
  • Calamagrostis epigejos var. reichenbachiana Grecescu
  • Calamagrostis glauca (M.Bieb.) Rchb.
  • Calamagrostis glauca var. latifolia M.Bieb.
  • Calamagrostis hedinii Pilg.
  • Calamagrostis lanceolata var. armena K.Koch
  • Calamagrostis laxa Host
  • Calamagrostis laxa var. transsilvanica Schur
  • Calamagrostis littorea (Schrad.) P.Beauv.

and 45 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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.